Canada, as one of
the Allied nations during the Second World War, was opposed by a
group of nations referred to as the Axis Powers.

Nations of the Alliance

The three main Axis
nations, Germany, Italy and Japan, referred to their relationship
as the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis". All three nations were
militaristic societies with imperial ambitions and all three waged
aggressive and militarily unprovoked wars with their neighbours.

Other nations
became associated with the Axis, either by treaty, agreement or by
some form of annexation/subjugation.

Mussolini and Hitler in Münich, June 1940.

Mussolini, General Jodl,
Adolf Hitler, and General Keitel. Mussolini would be executed in early
1945, Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, and both Jodl and Keitel were
tried at Nuremberg and hanged in 1946.

Partners in the
Axis

The actual term "Axis" was initiated
by Benito Mussolini, ruler of Fascist Italy, when in Nov 1936 he
spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis, the result of a treaty of friendship
signed between Italy and Nazi Germany. The treaty, signed 25 Oct
1936, led Mussolini to declare that the two nations would form an
"axis" around which the rest of Europe would revolve. Italy's
alliance with Germany had been brought about after the League of
Nations opposed Italian imperialism in Abyssinia. Germany had
supported Italy in that venture.

In May 1939, an
official alliance was created with the "Pact of Steel". On 27 Sep
1940, the alliance extended to the Empire of Japan, with the
signing of the Tripartite Treaty.

Germany

Mussolini, General
Jodl, Adolf Hitler, and General Keitel. Mussolini would be
executed in early 1945, Hitler committed suicide in Apr 1945, and
both Jodl and Keitel were tried at Nuremberg and hanged in 1946.

The Second World
War may be described as Hitler's War; he gained supreme power over
the German people, largely through democratic means, and
established himself as supreme commander of the military through a
series of cunning political maneuvers. For the German military,
who had a long-standing tradition of not involving themselves in
politics, there was simply no choice but to follow the orders of
their Führer. Hitler's surface aim was to establish a unified
German state, taking back territories ceded by the harsh Treaty of
Versailles after the First World War. His ultimate goal was to
eliminate what he termed the "Jewish race" (defining Jews racially
in addition to just religious practice) and establish Lebensraum
(living room) for the German people, who he also defined racially
as "Aryans". Domination of eastern Europe was the means to these
goals.

Hitler's ultimate
problem for his military would be conquering the Soviet Union,
pushing Germany's borders as far east as possible, to at the least
keep Soviet airpower away from German territory and that of its
allies, such as the rich oilfields of Romania.

As for the nations
that followed Germany into what was later billed an
"anti-Bolshevik crusade", there were many factors, as described
briefly in the various nationality sections below. In summary, we
can see that many of the central and eastern European nations had
many reasons to want to participate; reliance on Germany for
security, desire to recover lost territory from the Soviet Union,
fear or hatred of communism, desire to be free of Soviet rule, and
the opportunistic notion that booty might be theirs for the taking
by assisting in the destruction of the USSR. Many also
participated with varying degrees of willingness in the Final
Solution, either staging executions, assisting German execution
squads, or deporting citizens to German concentration camps.

As the fortunes of
war changed in favour of the Red Army, many of the Axis allies
demonstrated opportunism of another kind, and through their self-preservation instincts turned on Germany in 1944 as the war
ground down to a final confrontation on German soil in 1945.

Even before
Barbarossa began, Hitler single-handedly set out foreign policy
for the German nation, and his decisions to attack countries -
even as monumental an undertaking as the war against the USSR -
were done without consulting his military. After December 1941,
his power was all encompassing, and the war against the Soviet
Union can rightly be called Hitler's War. The war against the
Soviet Union ended in abject failure, and all of Hitler's foreign
policy goals failed to be achieved, with the partial exception of
his desire to destroy the Jewish peoples of Europe. This goal was
worked towards with ruthless and ghastly efficiency; Jewish
populations in many Eastern European nations were almost
completely wiped out. But Gemany itself was occupied, the lands it
gained by hook and by crook between 1933 and 1943 had been
reclaimed, and the German state was occupied and partitioned for
nearly 50 years.

Italy

Fascist Italy
participated in the war, first as the Kingdom of Italy, in which
Benito Mussolini ruled in the name of King Victor Emmanuel III
until Sep 1943. After secret negotiations with the Allies,
following the landing of Allied troops on the Italian mainland
(including the 1st Canadian Infantry Division), Mussolini was
dismissed and Italy joined the Allies. Those areas of the nation
under German control, however, became the Italian Social Republic
(Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI). Mussolini - arrested by the
new Italian government - was rescued by German commandos in the
Gran Sasso Raid on 12 Sep 1943 and installed as the leader of the
RSI. He as captured in Apr 1945 and executed by Italian
anti-fascist partisans.

Japan

Japan and Germany
had become allies with the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact in
1936. Japanese and Soviet forces had clashed briefly over
territory in China, including open armed conflict, in 1939.
Nonetheless, Japanese forces did not engage in direct large-scale
combat with Soviet forces until after the capitulation of Germany.
Japan's attack on the United States in Dec 1941 did provide the
Soviet Union the ability to redeploy sorely needed resources from
her eastern frontiers, however, and fresh Siberian divisions had
profound effects on the combat outside Moscow in December 1941.

In the closing
weeks of the war, Soviet forces determined to make last minute
territorial gains in Manchuria before the close of the
American-Japanese war initiated a brief period of combat with
Japanese forces before the surrender of Japan in September 1945.

Other Members of
the Axis

Debate continues
among historians as to the precise membership of the Axis, as some
nations joined under coercion or as the result of annexation or
subjugation. Aside from the original three signatories to the
Tripartite Pact of 1940, Yugoslavia had also signed the Pact on 25
Mar 1941, after long negotiations with Germany. Days later,
however, a British-backed military coup toppled the pro-Axis
government under Prince Paul. The new government feared that
Britain would be unable to help them should they repudiate the
treaty, and declared that Yugoslavia would abide by the Tripartite
Pact's agreements. Germany nonetheless invaded and occupied
Yugoslavia in Apr 1941, causing a crucial delay of their planned
invasion of the Soviet Union for several weeks.

Other nations
joining the pact included:

Hungary (20 Nov
1940)

Romania (23 Nov
1940)

Slovakia (24 Nov
1940)

Bulgaria (1 Mar
1941)

Croatia

Croatia, which
gained nominal independence after German occupation of Yugoslavia
in 1941, was considered a minor Axis Power. On 10 Apr 1941, an
extreme-right nationalist organization called Ustae proclaimed an
"Independent State of Croatia" from regions of occupied Yugoslav
territory after the capitulation of the Royal Yugoslavian Army to
the Germans. The state was founded as a reaction to a perceived
pro-Serbian bias in the national government of Yugoslavia. Fascist
Croatians used their power to send hundreds of thousands of Serbs,
Jews, Gypsies and political dissenters to their death in German
concentration camps.

Thailand

While Thailand was
not a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, it quickly ceased
resistance to the Japanese invasion on 8 Dec 1941, and signed a
military alliance with Japan in 1942, as well as declaring war on
the United States and Great Britain.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria remained
an Axis power until 9 Sep 1944, when the Bulgarian Communist Party
staged a coup (coincidentally as the Red Army approached the
nation's border), declaring the country the People's Republic of
Bulgaria (which would last until 10 Nov 1989). Bulgaria officially
joined the Allies in 1944, though no territorial gains were made
as a result.

Vardar Macedonia, a
region of Yugoslavia populated with ethnic Bulgarians, largely
welcomed Bulgarian occupation in 1941. When Bulgaria left the Axis
in Sep 1944, Germany suggested that Ivan Mihailov, the leader of
the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, declare
Macedonian independence, but the idea was rejected.

Hungary

Hungary had
actually started its collaboration with Italy in 1927 with the
signing of a treaty, as well as creating ties, both formal and
informal, with Germany in the 1930s. Hungary's desire was to
regain territory lost after the First World War, and the
dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Treaty of Trianon
in 1920 had taken two-thirds of the nation's area and population
away and ceded it to new countries. As such, it was a very willing
participant in the Axis, participating in the dismantling of
Czechoslovakia from which it acquired territory. Southern Slovakia
went to Hungary in 1938 as part of the Munich Agreement, and in
Mar 1939 Hungarian military forces occupied Ruthenia (also part of
Czechoslovakia). In Aug 1940, Germany forced Romania to cede
northern Transylvania to Hungary, putting her eastern frontier
along the strategically important Carpathian mountains. In Apr
1941, Hungarian troops helped occupy Yugoslavia after the German
invasion, alienating her non-German neighbours (Romania was
already a bitter enemy) and ensuring reliance on the Germans for
protection.

Hungary also
participated in the war in the Soviet Union.

Italian Social
Republic

The Italian Social
Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Italian) was a fascist
state established in 1943 after Italy, under King Victor Emmanuel
III, joined the Allies. Mussolini had been arrested by the
Italians, but he was freed in Sep 1943 by the spectacular raid on
Gran Sasso by German commandos under the famous Waffen SS officer
Otto Skorzeny. Mussolini was installed as the leader of the new
republic, which was centred at Salò. The republic fell as German
forces in the north of Italy surrendered or withdrew to German
soil in early 1945.

Romania

The Kingdom of
Romania joined the Axis on 23 Nov 1940 after the Soviet Union
occupied half of the province of Moldova on 28 Jun 1940. Germany
and Italy forced it to relinquish half of another province,
Transylvania, to Hungary on 30 Aug 1940. Romania became a major
participant in the war in the Soviet Union. By early 1944, as
Soviet forces crossed the border into Romania, the Romanian Army
became increasingly uncooperative with the Germans, and on 20 Aug
1944 Romania defected to the Allies.

Slovakia

The independent
Slovak Republic was formed after the Czechoslovakia was dissolved
before the Second World War. A "Protection treaty" gave Germany
the power to set Slovakian foreign, military and economic policy
on 23 Mar 1939. Slovakia therefore joined the Axis, and
participated in the German campaigns against Poland in Sep-Oct
1939 and the Soviet Union in Jun 1941. With the exception of
border territories, Slovakia was not occupied by the Germans.

Thailand

Japanese forces
invaded Thailand as part of their widespread offensive in the
Pacific on 8 Dec 1941. Resistance was ceased by the Prime
Minister, Field Marshal Pibulsonggram, and a military alliance
with Japan formed on 21 Dec was followed by declaration of war on
Britain and the US on 25 Jan 1942. Thai forces were actively
engaged against the Chinese. The Prime Minister was overthrown in
1944 as discontent with the Japanese presence in the country grew,
though the new civilian government retained cordial relations with
Japan. After the war, the United States - who had never
reciprocated the declaration of war - insisted that Thailand not
be treated as an Axis nation. Britain - who did reciprocate the
war declaration in 1942 - demanded reparations in the form of rice
and territory annexed from Malaya by the Thais, as well as parts
of Burma and French territory in Cambodia and Laos.

Yugoslavia

As noted above,
Yugoslavia joined the Axis on 25 Mar 1941 until a
British-supported coup two days later cast doubt on Yugoslavia's
status. Despite King Peter II's declaration of adherence to the
Tripartite Pact, Germany occupied the nation in Apr 1941, which
ceased to exist. As was the case with Poland, a government in
exile was established in Britain. Germany annexed Slovenia, Italy
took Dalmatia, Bulgaria took Macedonia, and Albania annexed
Montenegro while Croatia declared independence. Serbia also became
an independent entity, underneath a pro-Axis puppet head of state.

Finland

Finland was not a
member of the Axis, but had long-standing territorial disputes
with the Soviet Union. Finland had been part of the Russian Empire
until 1917, when German troops assisted the Finns in establishing
independence. The Finns maintained a policy of neutrality between
the wars, and Soviet territorial demands in Oct 1939 led to
negotiations halted by Soviet invasion without declaration of war
on 30 Nov 1939. The Winter War lasted until Mar 1940 when the
Finns negotiated a peace settlement, giving in to Soviet
territorial demands.

In 1941, following
the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Finland participated with
the stipulation that all they sought was to recover territory lost
in the Winter War. They called the new conflict the Continuation
War and felt that both conflicts were separate from the Second
World War as a whole. Finland never signed an agreement with
Germany, Italy or Japan and while Great Britain and France
declared war on Finland, the United States did not.

After limited
offensive operations after the German invasion of Russia in Jun
1941, in which much Finnish territory was recovered, the Finns
refused to get involved in protracted and costly operations in the
Soviet Union. In Dec 1941, the decision was made to stablized
their lines, and the front remained relatively quiet until Jun
1944. Massive Soviet attacks into Karelia obliterated all the
gains made in the Continuation War, and in Aug 1944 a treaty with
the Soviet Union was concluded. German forces were expelled from
Finland and into northern Norway.

Defections

Italy - defected
to the Allies on 8 Sep 1943. A fascist puppet state was
established in northern Italy, which dissolved when Germany
surrendered in May 1945.

Romania -
defected to the Allies in Aug 1944

Bulgaria -
Communist coup in Sep 1944 and defected to the Allies.

Germany -
defeated by the Allies and surrendered unconditionally, with
Victory in Europe Day declared by the Allies on 8 May 1945.

Japan - defeated
by the Allies and surrendered unconditionally, with Victory over
Japan Day declared by the Allies on 2 Sep 1945.

Satellite States

Europe

Austria became
part of Germany after the Anschluss of 1938.

Belgium was
overrun in May 1940.

Belarusian
Central Rada was the name of the puppet state set up after the
German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941; this state
disappeared after German forces withdrew in 1944.

Denmark was
overrun in 1940.

Luxembourg was
overrun in 1940, occupied until Aug 1942, then incorporated into
Germany until liberated by the Allies in late 1944.

Lokot Republic
was established as an experiment by Germany in establishing a
pro-Axis, anti-Soviet Russian entity and represented an example
of co-operation between Axis invaders and Russian nationals. The
republic ended in 1943 as Axis fortunes in the East changed
after Stalingrad.

The Netherlands
were overrun in 1940.

Norway was
overrun in 1940.

Reichskommissariats of Ostland and Ukraine - German run
governments in conquered territories of the Soviet Union; they
naturally disappeared as the Red Army regained lost territories
in 1943 and 1944.

Vichy France -
Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain became the head of state of
unoccupied areas of France after the surrender on 22 Jun 1940,
separate from the other two-thirds of France which was
militarily occupied by the Germans. The government was
established in the resort town of Vichy, and retained control of
overseas possessions. Vichy French troops briefly saw combat
against British and Free French troops in Syria in 1941, and
against American and British forces in North Africa in Nov 1942.
A Free French government in exile was established in the UK.

Vichy France signed
the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 and sent French volunteers to
fight the Soviet Union. Vichy controlled colonies were sometimes
used as bases for Axis military operations; Japan in particular
occupied French Indochina, used as a staging base for invasions of
Thailand, Malaya and Borneo.

Asia

Manchukuo
(Manchuria) was a Japanese puppet state established in 1932. The
independence of Manchuria was not recognized by the League of
Nations, a situation that prompted Japan to withdraw from the
League. Only Italy, Germany, and the Nanjing puppet government
recognized the new state initially, though Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Ba Maw Burmese Nation, Thailand, the Indian government
of Subhas Chandra Bose, and The Vatican later gave recognition
to Manchuria. After Japan's surrender, the Manchurian state was
dissolved.

Mengjiang (Mengchiang)
was a client state of Japan's, organized in northern China on 18
Feb 1936, though independence was theoretical only. This state
disappeared in 1945 as Japan was defeated and mainland
possessions were invaded by the Soviet Union in the wake of the
US atomic bombings in Aug 1945.

A puppet state in
Nanjing was founded on 29 Mar 1940 by the Japanese, which
surrendered on 9 Sep 1945 to Nationalist Chinese forces.

Provisional
Government of Free India - led by Indian nationalist Subhas
Chandra Bose, this government never operated in India itself,
but in Japanese-controlled areas outside the country. Bose
rejected Gandhi's peaceful methods though their goal of Indian
independence was the same. Bose declared an independent India in
Oct 1943, creating a provisional capital in the Nicobar Islands.
The state disappeared on 18 Aug 1945, having only been
recognized during its brief history by other Axis nations or
puppets including Germany, Japan, Italy, Croatia, the Wang
Jingwei Government in Japanese-occupied China, Thailand, Burma,
Manchukuo, and the Philippines.

Military Forces

The German
Military

Germany's Armed
Forces (Wehrmacht) consisted of the Army (Heer), Air Force
(Luftwaffe) and Navy (Kriegsmarine). During the war, the Waffen SS
also gained importance in dramatic fashion - originally a
political organization, the SS grew during the war to encompass
the General SS (under whom many state security and police
organizations fell) and the Waffen SS, the military arm of the
organization.

The SS was the
private domain of one Heinrich Himmler, and the Luftwaffe too,
under Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, developed a large set of
ground forces. At first only responsible for parachute troops and
anti-aircraft units, the Luftwaffe raised several divisions of
infantry units, as well as the elite armoured division named after
the Reichsmarschall himself. The Army, however, fell more and more
under Hitler's direct control - especially after assuming the post
of Chief of the Army High Command in December 1941 in addition to
his title of Supreme Commander. His most senior officers were
lackeys and yes-men, notably the Chief of the Operation Staff of
the High Command of the Armed Forces, Alfred Jodl, and the Chief
of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, Wilhelm Keitel. Any
senior generals who opposed his orders or even his thoughts were
routinely dismissed, some to be reinstated - and then dismissed
again.

The Axis forces on
Germany's Eastern Front were divided into Army Groups, as noted
below. Each Army Group was made up of Armies, each Army made up of
two or more Corps, each Corps having two or more divisions, and
troops of all the services were combined into these Army Groups.
The various contingents of foreign national armies or foreign
legions listed further down on this page were attached to German
higher formations and fought in the area of responsibility of the
various Army Groups as well.

German Army
Groups on the Eastern Front

22 June 1941

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Army Group
South

7 Jul 1942

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Split into
two Army Groups: Army Group A, Army Group B

21 Nov 1942

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Army Group
Don created

Army Group A

Army Group B

12 Feb 1943

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Reformed into
Army Group South

Army Group A

Army Group B

Mar 1943

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Army Group
South

Army Group A

transferred
to Italy

31 Mar 1944

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Army Group
South

renamed Army
Group South Ukraine

4 Apr 1944

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Renamed Army
Group North Ukraine

Army Group
South Ukraine

Sep 1944

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Army Group
North Ukraine

Renamed Army
Group South

28 Sep 1944

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Renamed Army
Group A

Army Group
South

26 Jan 1945

renamed Army
Group Kurland

renamed Army
Group North

renamed Army
Group Centre

Army Group
South

Army Group
Vistula created

2 Apr 1945

Army Group
Kurland

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Renamed Army
Group Ostmark

Army Group
Vistula

5 Apr 1945

disbanded

Army Group
North

Army Group
Centre

Army Group
Ostmark

Army Group
Vistula

May 1945

surrendered

surrendered

surrendered

surrendered

The German Army

Nationhood and
Early Beginnings

A German national
Army did not exist as such until after the First World War; troops
in that conflict had come from different states such as Bavaria,
Saxony, Prussia, etc. Tradition extending back centuries always
dictated that the Army would be a non-political and highly
obedient servant not just of the State, but of the Ruler, be he
emperor or king. With the abolition of the monarchy after World
War One, and with no Kaiser to swear loyalty to, German soldiers
and ex-soldiers (one Adolf Hitler among them) threw themselves
into the political turmoil throughout the country, as the
Freikorps (Free Corps) roamed the countryside. The Army eventually
moved itself out of the political arena, withdrawing into its
traditional anti-democratic and non-political stance. A condition
of the peace of 1918 was that the German state as a whole be
permitted only a 100,000 man Armed Forces called the Reichswehr,
in which volunteers had to sign on for extensive periods of time.
The Army once again pledged itself to total obedience and service
to the state.

When Hitler finally
came to power as Chancellor in the early 1930s, the Army struggled
to remain non-political. Officers noted with alarm that political
armies such as the SA (see below under the Waffen SS) had gained
in importance - in 1933 the SA numbered 400,000 men, outnumbering
the Army some 4 to 1. A brief flirtation with political power
immediately before Hitler's accession to Chancellor is seen as the
last chance the Army had of preventing a National Socialist
takeover. But the generals, for a variety of reasons, were
powerless to intervene. The only path for the German Army at this
stage was to war; to fulfill his ultimate political aims, Hitler
would need more than just political bullies such as the SA. Hitler
unified the German states and announced a general re-armament, and
the Army changed dramatically. Regimental traditions as rich as
those held by the British Army were dispensed with in favour of a
homogenous new Heer (as the Reichsheer was redubbed - meaning
simply The Army). From a 100,000 man standing start, the new
Wehrmacht was expanded greatly in a very short time, by October
1934 some 240,000 men were under arms. The Army was intended to be
the sole bearer of arms of the nation, and the SA was greatly
reduced in importance beginning in June 1934 with a purge of its
leadership. More importantly, Hitler refused to intervene in Army
matters and the Army was allowed to run itself.

The German Army had
a strong manpower pool to draw from; not only was twelve months of
military service compulsory for all German males of appropriate
age, but paramilitary youth groups were common, in which German
boys started to receive military training even before entering
their teen years. Service with the Reich Arbeits Dienst (RAD -
German Labor Service) was also compulsory. Marching, drill,
discipline, weapons training, and a regimentalized system of
living was part of the German male's experiences throughout his
formative years. All German recruits, for the first time in
history, swore their oath of allegiance to a single individual by
name - Adolf Hitler.

By 1938, the Army
occupied the same position the SA had in 1934; it was the most
important armed force in the German state, and like the SA in
1934, the Army leadership had lost Hitler's confidence and trust.
Both Himmler and Goering had axes to grind with the Army
leadership - and vice versa. Hitler acted to consolidate power and
some 50 generals were dismissed, or made to resign, with Hitler
assuming, in February 1938, the role of Supreme Commander of the
Armed Forces.

Backbone of the Army; a highly decorated
non-commissioned officer, wearing the black uniform of a
tank crewman.

Rapid Expansion

In 1939, the Army
had grown to number 52 active and 51 reserve divisions, with
730,000 men under arms and 1,100,000 in reserve. After
mobilization for war in September, a remarkable achievement in
itself, Germany's men under arms totalled over 3,700,000, of a
total population of some 80,000,000. But the rapid expansion had
its dangers; from 84 infantry battalions in 1934, Germany fielded
some 885 in 1939 - more than ten times as many. Twenty-four
artillery battalions had expanded to become 439 in the same time
frame. Some 3,550 officers existed in the German Army in 1933 (not
counting 450 medical and veterinary officers), and 500 of these
were transferred to the fledgling Air Force. By 1939, some 100,000
officers were required. Many NCOs and Police officers were
commissioned to make up shortfalls - with the added effect of
breaking down social class distinctions in the Army, which had
been a supposed goal of National Socialism in any event. The
camaraderie that grew during the war between officers and men in
the German Army was arguably more intense than in the armies of
most of the Allies; this infusion of men from the ranks no doubt
helped this take place.

Victory in Poland,
followed by the unexpected declaration of war by France and
Britain, paved the way for successful campaigns in Norway, and
finally the Low Countries and France itself. Victory had come
through capitalization of poor Polish deployment; their armies did
not take advantage of natural obstacles such as rivers, and worse,
was forced to deploy on two fronts when the Soviets invaded from
the east after the initial German successes in the western part of
the country. Despite immense logistical problems caused by the
reliance on nearly 200,000 horses accompanying the German Army,
the campaign was effectively concluded by the 18th day, and had
been decided by the fourth day. A large battle ending with the
capture of some 170,000 Polish soldiers would be the largest
encirclement in the entire history of warfare to that date.

The Polish campaign
revealed another trend that would continue throughout the war;
that of Adolf Hitler's willingness to gamble. In September 1939,
the gamble had been that the western Allies would not declare war,
a gamble that Hitler lost.

The Nature of
German Warfare

The Polish Campaign
had been essentially an infantryman's battle; German infantry made
up 75% of the attacking force, and the majority of battles were
concluded within 50 miles of the frontier, where the bulk of the
Polish forces chose to deploy. A small portion of the German force
had to march as far as 200 miles, but supply and fatigue did not
pose any real problem - as they would later in the expanse of the
Soviet Union. More tellingly, German air and armoured forces were
not deployed for long ranging shock action - as the myth of
Blitzkrieg would have us believe - but in some cases, armoured
formations were actually subordinated to the command of infantry
corps. The armoured units were envisioned as leading a
collaborative effort against the enemy - not of taking independent
action.

The Army leadership
in Poland became aghast at German plans for occupation of the
country, and especially the action of the Security Police, members
of the SS that followed the Army and were tasked with securing the
rear areas. Unofficially, they served a more sinister purpose,
along with the Einsatzgruppen, or Special Action groups. Six such
groups, numbering between 400 and 600 men each, marched into
Poland and under several pretexts, rounded up intelligentsia,
officials, businessmen, religion figures and other important
personages, and executed them. Army commanders and rank and file
alike were not fooled by the official pretexts for the murders -
usually attributed to "counter espionage work" - and after the
conclusion of the campaign, Army generals were so keen on
distancing themselves from the killings that they pulled out of
their occupation duties before being formally relieved. The SS
stepped happily in, and the campaign continued unhindered. The
Army turned its attention to the West.

Campaigns in the
West and the Myth of Blitzkrieg

The campaigns in
Denmark and Norway in the spring of 1940 formed a necessary
prelude to the invasion of France and the Low Countries. It was
here that German armoured forces were able to practice techniques
that would later come to play in the Soviet Union. Even before the
invasion of France, however, there was no consensus on the correct
method of attack, and no thought that "Blitzkrieg" was the
ultimate solution to the problem. The final plan drafted by
Manstein was notable for its high risk factor - an attack with
mobile forces through the dense Ardennes Forest. But the plan was
also consistent with conventional German military thinking; a
difficult campaign was expected in which the infantry would play a
major role.

The myth of
Blitzkrieg persists in the image of German panzers driving deep
into French territory with air power blasting a way forward. This
simply did not happen. Rough terrain, and especially the obstacle
of the Meuse River, delayed German armoured forces to a great
extent, and the infantry was still the mainstay of the attacking
forces; the assault over the Meuse was actually led by anti-tank
and engineer units. Airpower was indeed crucial to the campaign,
with aerial supremacy being established quickly, and providing a
secure blanket over the troops on the ground, as well as confusing
French commanders as to the intent of German forces - but in no
way did the use of airpower signify any revolution in modern
warfare, and aerial attacks accounted for little destruction among
enemy ground forces. Conservative employment of the armoured
troops, too, caused the Army to stop short of annihilating some
300,000+ troops at Dunkirk by prematurely halting.

Planning for an
invasion of the Soviet Union in the spring of 1941, Hitler's plans
were sidetracked by the need to intervene to assist Italy in North
Africa as well as the Balkans. After a quick conquest of
Yugoslavia and Greece, and the despatch of a token force to
Africa, Barbarossa was slated for June. Several weeks of good
campaigning weather had been lost. Further, the myth of Blitzkrieg
and the miraculous victory over France in six weeks led many
Germans to believe that the Soviet Union would be a pushover.

By 1941, the German
Army had a considerable amount of experience at conducting
operations in the field, and had not yet faced a major defeat. Two
schools of thought pervaded the grand strategy planned for the
Russian campaign; the "armoured concept" of Heinz Guderian, who
advocated swift moving armoured forces rapidly advancing to
capture enemy power centres, and the classical approach, favoured
by the High Command , of decisive maneuver, in which pockets of
enemy troops could be encircled and destroyed. The use of
maneuvered had been practiced by German armies for at least a
century; the war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1866 had
lasted just six weeks, the main battles of the 1870-71 war with
France lasted just over six weeks, and initial successes in 1914
also showed the effectiveness of maneuver. No tanks or Stuka dive
bombers had been necessary; in 1940 new technology was applied to
these older ideas, but the concepts were nothing new. After the
shock of attrition warfare and the ascent of the machinegun as the
master of the infantryman's battlefield, there were serious
questions as to whether decisive maneuver could still work, but
the new technologies - tanks, support aircraft, and flexible
artillery support - seemed to ensure that the decisive maneuver
could be successful, and the two schools of thought, with much in
common (both rejected attrition as a viable means of waging war)
would shape German strategy in Russia.

Nature of combat
in the Soviet Union

The German Army was
not prepared for many factors it encountered in the Soviet Union.
Firstly was the fighting ability of the Soviet soldier, who showed
a marked willingness to accept casualties, as well as a genius for
entrenchment and camouflage. Secondly was the appearance of
excellent Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1; while poorly
employed and co-coordinated in the field, and often lacking spare
parts, the Germans had few weapons capable of dealing with these
weapons on an equal footing and their existence came as a rude
surprise. The weather, too, was an enemy as dogged as the
individual Russian soldier, be it the long periods of mud and rain
in spring and autumn (made even more noticeable by the lack of
paved roads in the Soviet Union) or the intense cold of winter
which froze many types of German equipment. Notably, no
preparations had been made to transport cold weather clothing to
German soldiers in Russia in late 1941, general consensus being
that the campaign would be over before the snows fell.

While the German
soldier fought with great skill and determination, his Soviet
counterpart in time also became quite skillful and lavishly
equipped with automatic weapons, tanks and artillery, and his
tactics improved (the eventual addition of radios to their tanks,
for example, helped greatly). German units received improved small
arms as the war went on, including semi-automatic and automatic
weapons, though these never fully supplanted the bolt action K98
Mauser rifle as the mainstay of the infantryman. But by no means
had the current modern family of small arms reached the entire
German Army by June of 1941, and numbers or older weapons remained
in front line units long after the invasion of Russia began; none
of which probably mattered a great deal; both sides found the
majority of casualties suffered were usually inflicted by
artillery.

The Soviet Union
also had a significant manpower advantage, and despite the
crushing losses inflicted on it early in the war, the Soviet
nation was able to mobilize and replace these losses in a
significantly short period of time. The declaration of war on the
United States by Japan also allowed the Soviets to reduce her
eastern garrisons and move troops to the west to fight the Germans
- the arrival of the Siberians in December of 1941 was especially
significant.

The further into
the Soviet Union that the invading Axis armies travelled, the
harder it became to keep them supplied. Soviet railway lines were
of a different guage than German trains, Soviet rails were lighter
and only capable of carrying a 17 ton axle load (7 tons less than
the European standard), Soviet locomotives had larger water
capacity which meant that watering stations were farther apart in
the USSR than in Europe - a problem when the Germans decided to
relay the track in the country to the German gauge. Construction
of new railway lines were inefficient, and length of track laid
was given priority over necessities such as roundhouses, depots,
workshop facilities, coal and water stations, etc. Only about 25
percent of the Soviet rail lines were double tracked rather than
single tracked, and poor roadbeds in many areas limited maximum
speeds to 20 miles per hour. Motor transport was also hampered
severely by the lack of graded and paved roads in the Soviet
Union, as well as the spring and autumn rainy periods which
quickly turned the dirt roads into quagmires.

Production and
Distribution of Materiel

German units were
always deficient in key items of equipment, notably motor
transport, and were heavily reliant on draft animals - very often
supplementing their own horses with smaller Russian ponies when
they could be found. A single first line infantry division
required some 4,842 horses to supplement its motor transport
allotment of just over 1000 cars and trucks. Weaker divisions
required fewer cars and trucks, (still amounting to close to 600
vehicles ) but required over 6,000 horses. By the war's end, over
2,700,000 horses would have passed through the German Army. The
198th Infantry Division reported in November 1941 that its
complement of 4600 horses had diminished to 3100, with some 1200
of these barely able to stand for due to a combination of cold
weather, overexertion and lack of suitable fodder. These horses
were stabled until they recovered - in mid June 1942; in their
place 1600 local Panjes (Russian ponies) were utilized.

Halftrack vehicles
and armoured personnel carriers - in theory the standard mount of
the elite Schützen and Panzergrenadier regiments of the Panzer
divisions - were never available in anything like adequate
numbers. Tanks capable of keeping pace with Soviet tank design
were long in coming, and the introduction of the Tiger in late
1942 was a blessing for German tank men. The even better Panther
was delayed until the summer of 1943, and original models were
mechanically unreliable. By this point, the disasters at
Stalingrad and El Alamein had fallen and the Combined Bomber
Offensive of the western Allies was wreaking havoc, if not
directly on the German economy, then not so co-incidentally her
civilian population.

The German economy
was never properly geared for war production until very late in
the game; James Lucas tells us (in his book Reich) that in 1943 1
million German women were employed as hairdressers rather than
employed in "war work." The word "krieg" (war) was also never used
openly before 1943, rather a "period of national emergency" was
declared.

German Leadership
of BARBAROSSA

Perhaps most
importantly, Adolf Hitler assumed greater control over the Army's
employment in the field in December of 1941, assuming the post of
Chief of the Army High Command. While his Stand or Die orders that
winter may in fact have been the correct method of preventing a
rout, his continued issuance of similar orders on later occasions
throughout the war were not suited for many of the tactical
situations of units to whom those orders were given. The most
notorious example was the Sixth Army at Stalingrad; most
historians feel that had von Paulus been permitted early on to
withdraw or attempt to fight his way out of the Soviet
encirclement, thousands of German lives might have been saved. As
the war went on, many German generals were sacked (some more than
once) when they were seen to disagree with Hitler or issue orders
contrary to his wishes.

The einsatzgruppen
followed the Army into Russia as well, and amidst the legitimate
concerns of anti-partisan warfare, mass executions of enemy
civilians were commonplace, and on a large scale. At Babi Yar in
September 1941, some 33,771 civilians were exterminated,
ostensibly in reprisal for German Army casualties caused by the
explosion of mines laid by the Red Army. By the end of 1941, with
the assistance of local volunteers in the Baltics and Ukraine, the
einsatzgruppen could report that nearly 500,000 civilians had been
killed. The direct effect on the Army - whose level of direct
participation is unclear but whose level of knowledge of these
activities is easier to surmise - was the necessity of employing
large numbers of men on security and anti-partisan duties in the
rear areas.

After the defeat at
Stalingrad, the German Army had transformed from an unbeaten force
of conquerors to an army forced to fight for its life. The first
major defeats in North Africa occured just as the Stalingrad
battle opened, and by the time the Kursk battle was concluded -
the last great German offensive of the war in the East - the
western Allies had landed on Sicily and Italy was soon to
capitulate. But the German soldier fought on, along with desperate
allies who saw the Red Army advancing towards their borders, and
decided that their best hope for fair treatment by the invading
Soviets would be to switch sides.

During the two
years of defensive warfare and retreat, the German Army maintained
discipline and morale - sometimes through draconian means, such as
the creation of "flying courts martial" and special military
police units who were authorized to try, convict and execute
deserters and shirkers. The policy of aggressive counter-attacks
often led to hastily prepared attacks for little gain with
appreciable losses in valuable resources, especially tanks and
armoured fighting vehicles.

Perhaps the most
visible sign that Hitler had lost faith in his Army was his order
on 24 July 1944 (in the wake of the Bomb Plot that almost killed
him four days earlier) that the military hand salute was to be
immediately replaced with the "German Greeting" - the act of
stretching the arm out to a 45 degree angle, accompanied by the
salutation "Heil Hitler." All officers of the German Army were
ordered to re-swear their oath of allegiance. Certainly many
officers had finally seen Hitler as the greatest obstacle to
Germany's well being. But the plot against Hitler had been put
down bloodily and swiftly by both the SS, and regular Army
officers still devoted to the cause. There would be no more
chances for conspirators; Hitler soon retreated into seclusion,
drastic security measures were taken not only for his own personal
safety, but to ensure that soldiers in the field kept fighting.
Soldiers who deserted or surrendered now left their families at
risk of arrest; flying courts-martial and execution became so
common that historians can't determine with precision exactly how
many German troops were executed in the last days of the war.

The German General
Staff - a unique institution - was also deeply mistrusted by
Hitler. After December 1941, the Army High Command (OKH) and
Hitler's personal staff, the Armed Forces High Command (OKW)
operated separately and were united only by Hitler's personal
direction. By 1945, Hitler promised to dismantle the entire
system, and by March 1945, Kesselring of the Luftwaffe and Doenitz
of the Navy were in command of ground operations, leaving Army
officers completely out of the highest levels of the command loop.
Infantry

The German
infantryman was a highly trained specialist, whose training began
with 16 weeks of basic military training (decreased during the war
to eight, and progressively less in the closing months of the war)
in the region (Wehrkreis) where he was recruited. After advanced
trades training - where the infantryman learned to use the machine
pistol, light machinegun, several types of grenades, different
tactics and drills, the art of entrenchment and camouflage in the
field, how to attack tanks, first aid, survival skills and a
variety of other skills - the soldier joined a March Company and
moved to the front as a formed unit, eventually to join one of the
numbered regiments of the Army that hailed from his home region.
He was taught to take over a squad or platoon in an emergency, and
that it was always better to do something, than nothing. The
concept of auftragstaktik - misson-type orders - meant that
leaders at the lowest levels were given the flexibility to think
for themselves in battle rather than tie themselves to rigid
plans, and show initiative where men in other armies might simply
remain idle.

Changes to
regimental organization were minor during the war, though
individual armament changed greatly. From the beginning of the
Russian Campaign, German soldiers were taught to aggressively
react to armoured threats with whatever means were at hand.
Eventually, of necessity, an increasingly deadly array of
anti-tank weaponry was introducted, from magnetic mines to hand
held disposable rocket launchers which improved in quality as the
war went on, to the bazooka-inspired Panzerschreck. But hand in
hand with new weapons came decreases in manpower, and the
established strengths of German units decreased as the war went
on. Infantry squads of 10 men were replaced with a nine man
organization, for example (in practice these numbers meant little
in any event). Other weapons were upgraded in capability; the
3.7cm anti tank gun was successively replaced with 5.0 cm and 7.5
cm models, and the 8.1 cm mortar began to be replaced in infantry
battalions with the 12 cm model.

Usually outnumbered
by 1943, and kept in the line by harsh discipline, the German Army
also represented a progressive entity where cameraderie - even
between commissioned officers and enlisted men - was a cornerstone
of morale and efficiency. Whereas the soldier of the Kaiserheer in
1914-1918 had sometimes been abused in basic training by strict
NCOs, and required to refer to his officers in the third person,
the Landser in Russia was often closer to his company commander
than members of the "democratic" armies of the US or Britain,
where officers sometimes remained insulated from their men by
tradition or class difference. German officers ate the same food
as their men (albeit off a metal plate) and shared their dangers,
while recruits in training were treated more humanely than in the
Old Army (with some old soldiers venturing the opinion that the
Army had "lost it."). Mountain Troops

Mountain troops
date back to before the start of the 20th Century; previous to
this, wars were usually conducted in spring, summer or early
autumn weather - European nations with mountainous borders up
until the late 19th Century could depend on small bands of militia
to defend their mountain passes. As railways and roads were
developed during the 1800s, it became obvious that small bands of
soldiers were inadequate to the task of delaying enemy forces
moving through their mountainous borders, and a need for specially
trained mountain troops was felt. During the First World War, the
first combat employment of specially trained mountain troops
occurred in the Austrian, Hungarian and Italian alps. German
alpine troops came to see action in Tyrol and later Macedonia, and
proved themselves so capable they were used as assault troops at
Verdun before being employed in mountains once more in Romania,
the Vosges, and Caporetto, among others. The tradition of mountain
troops continued in the Wehrmacht, and during the period of German
expansion, three small units were expanded to become the 1st
Gebirgsjäger Division. With Austrian annexation in 1938, two more
mountain divisions were added to the Wehrmacht, and all three were
employed in Poland. Aside from their initial fighting against
Polish alpine troops, the German mountain soldiers were too
lightly equipped to be of much use in the rest of the campaign;
pooled transport allowed one division to advance to Lemberg, where
they did not have the equipment or manpower to take the city
itself.

Mountain troops saw
action in France, and extensive employment in Norway, followed by
fighting in the Balkans. All these employmens, with the exception
of brief periods in France and the Low Countries, saw the
Gebirgsjäger employed in mountainout terrain. This stopped in June
1941 when the Mountain divisions were sent into Russia as part of
Barbarossa. By now there were six divisions of German mountain
troops, spread along the front from Finland in the north to Army
Group South. Two more mountain divisions were raised by 1944, and
all the divisions were widely employed, moving to different
sectors of the front, and to other fronts, as was felt necessary.
Mobile Troops

The German Army
began the war with Poland possessing some 4,500 armoured fighting
vehicles, of which under 600 were armed with guns larger than
20mm. In France, German AFVs (which include armoured cars and
halftracks) were outnumbered by British and French AFVs by some
4,000 to 2,800. German tanks were marked by reliability for the
most part, but also complexity and over-engineering, as well as a
lack of standardization (leading to problems in the mass
production of vehicles - for example, both Porsche and Henschel
produced components for Tiger tanks that were not
interchangeable.) In other words, when running, German tanks
performed very well, but when broken down were more difficult to
repair. Shortages of these vehicles also led to their constant
use, and the sheer number of differing types (again, a result of
non-standardization) led to supply and repair problems.

The Germans entered
the Soviet Union with an initial force of 3,350 armoured vehicles,
and production was not increased to war levels until late 1942.
Over 20,000 vehicles were built in 1943 after the move to a war
footing (some 350% the number of vehicles produced in 1941) -
though a third of this total represented armoured halftracks. By
the end of the war, some 80,000 armoured vehicles had been built
by Germany - with only 22,000+ being main battle tanks (to use the
modern term) or Panzer III, IV, V or VI type. By way of contrast,
the US produced almost 50,000 Shermans (with few going to the
Pacific) and the Soviets produced some 71,000 T-34, KV and IS
tanks.

The discovery of
the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks in the summer of 1941 was a rude
shock for German tank troops, though German tankers had also seen
heavier tank models fielded by the French (Char B1 bis) and
English (Matilda) in France in 1940 as well. It was not until late
1942 and the introduction of the Tiger that the German armoured
force had a heavyweight tank of its own in sizable numbers. German
armour had many advantages over Soviet armour from the beginning
of the campaign, however. Mechanical reliability was superior
(some Soviet tanks came complete with hammer so the driver could
change gears by beating the stiff controls into place), as were
optics and crew training. The use of wireless allowed for flexible
command and control over armoured formations, and German tank
units were deployed en masse for maximum efficiency.

In 1939, most
trucks used by motorized infantry had been road-bound and could
not travel cross-country with the tanks. After the Polish
Campaign, armoured divisions were increased in infantry power; in
1942 the Schützen regiments were designated Panzergrenadier, and
in tandem with this name change came the introduction of SPW
halftracks - initially intended for issue to two full battalions
in each division with these halftracks, in reality only one
battalion per division became the norm. In France, this allotment
had been only one company of armoured infantry for every panzer
division. Of 226 panzergrenadier battalions in the whole of the
German Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS in September 1943, only 26
were equipped with armoured half tracks.

Strategically,
Germany never developed successful defensive policies with its
armour once the initiative passed to the Allies in 1943; armour
was usually amassed and thrown into new offensive operations
rather than used defensively. As the tide of the war turned,
assault and self-propelled guns were built in large numbers, as
these were cheaper to produce than fully turreted tanks - though
having 17 seperate types of assault gun (and this only includes
major types, defined as having production runs of 60 vehicles or
more) did not help ease logistical burdens.

The operations of
German mobile troops were highly publicized throughout the war,
and their presence was essential for most major actions to be
successful. They never accounted for more than a simple minority,
however, among the far more numerous infantry divisions who
marched (with their horses) from battle to battle, and even the
mythical panzergrenadiers, fighting while safely ensconced in
armoured halftracks, was something of a myth - truck and
halftrack-borne infantry invariably dismounted to fight. Artillery

The artillery was
an important and decisive arm of the division's firepower. By
1941, the 75mm field pieces found in some units had been replaced
with 10.5 cm and 15 cm pieces being standard. By the middle of the
war, the standard configuration for an infantry division was 36 of
the lighter 10.5 cm field pieces with 12 heavier 15 cm guns,
scaled back to 24 of the 10.5 cm pieces after a 1943
reorganization of infantry divisions. Higher formations used 17
and 21 cm guns, with rocket artillery becoming important,
generally grouped independently and assigned to divisions as
needed. Higher formations also used the same (smaller) field guns
as the divisional artilleries as well, generally attached directly
to Armies. These units tended to be motorized rather than horse
drawn as the majority of infantry division artillery regiments
were. A wide variety of rocket weapons were also employed, both
towed and self propelled, and these also were assigned to a corps
or army rather than specific divisions, and these units too were
primarily motorized. Most German artillery was horsedrawn, with
the panzer and motorized infantry/panzergrenadier divisions having
self-propelled guns. At the time of Barbarossa, air power (most
notably Stuka dive bombers) was used heavily as fire support; as
the Allies achieved greater mastery of the skies by 1943 and 1944,
rocket artillery and larger field pieces were used to supplement
divisional artillery, as well as the increasing use of assault
guns in the direct fire role.

The most notorious
artillery piece of the war was the "88", officially the 8.8 cm
FlaK 18 (later also a FlaK 36 model). The suitability of this high
calibre anti-aircraft gun against ground targets had been noted in
the Spanish Civil War, and after ad hoc use in France as an
anti-tank gun against the near-impregnable Char B1 bis and
Matildas, it's place in the German anti-tank arsenal was assured
by its performance in North Africa - picking off British tanks at
ranges of 2000 metres with ease. The 88 was produced in large
numbers, and was employed freely as an anti-armour and
anti-personnel weapon in addition to its main anti-aircraft role.
The Germans also used a variety of low calibre, quick firing
cannons for anti-aircraft work that were routinely used as a
ground weapon, both towed and self-propelled weapons of 2 and 3.7
cm were employed, in single and multiple mounts.

German artillery
practices differed from those of the Allies in many ways;
Artillery Battalions were normally fired as a single unit, rather
than batteries firing independently in support of different
infantry units (as was often the case with Commonwealth units, for
example). In rare circumstances, this was done, but was not the
norm. Unlike the Soviets, the Germans saw artillery as a
supporting arm rather than having a central role. Whereas one
forward observer in a British unit could conceivably call down the
fire of an entire corps or even army with a single code word,
German artillery organization precluded such massing of fire. An
Arko (Artillerie Kommandeur - Artillery Commander) designated both
an officer and a headquarters unit created specifically to
co-ordinate all the artillery units within a corps, and later in
the war, Harkos (Höherer Artillerie Kommadeur - Higher Artillery
Commander) were designated to perform the same function with all
artillery units within an Army. The ability to call down artillery
fire was not as lavishly given out as in other armies, due to the
logistical realities the Germans faced in the Soviet Union, and
the attendant need to husband ammunition. Divisional artillery
officers, and corps level staff officers, generally allocated
firepower resources to units on the front, with artillery units
being assigned to specific formations or units. In this way,
infantry units could not rob their neighbours of fire support
allocated to them.

Artillery units
were weakened during the war in the east by occasional
combings-out of personnel to form emergency infantry units for
partisan hunts or to shore up defences in the event of enemy
breakthroughs, and many experienced artillerymen were lost in this
way.

Statistics

In all, some 12.5
million men passed through the German Army (and 18 million in all
three services) in World War Two with about 1.6 million being
killed between 1939 and 1945 on all fronts.

The Waffen SS

A
picture is worth a thousand words. A veteran SS soldier
of the Totenkopf Division in the turret of his
tank, Kharkov, early 1943. The extent of his experience
is displayed on his left breast; his fatigue is
displayed just as convincingly on his face.

The roots of the
Waffen SS lay in the political turmoil in Germany after the First
World War. The SA (Sturm Abteilungen or Storm Troops), created in
1921, were one of the necessities of political life in Germany at
the time. Their role was to protect the fledgling Nazi Party from
opposing groups. The SA rose to number 3 million members by 1933
while at the same time, a Schutz Staffel (Protection Squad) was
created as the personal bodyguard of one Adolf Hitler. By 1929
this group had only 280 members, but under the leadership of
Heinrich Himmler came to number 30,000 members by 1933. After the
Knight of the Long Knives in 1934, when the head of the SA and
Hitler's main political rival, Ernst Roehm, was killed (along with
many of his lieutenants in key positions in the SA), the SS grew
in importance, taking over political police work and becoming
increasingly important in the realms of Party and government.

The SS came to be a
very complex empire, and what was to become the Waffen SS was only
a small part of the Allgemeine SS (General SS). The SS as a whole
was largely a bureaucratic and political entity who controlled key
security functions such as the SD (Security Police), Gestapo
(Secret State Police), and Concentration Camps.

At the outbreak of
war, a small group of SS men, armed and trained as soldiers for
service in the field, had been created. Collectively known as SS-Verfügungstruppe
(SS-VT), these men included four motorized infantry regiments.
Hitler saw the SS as an elite and loyal political police force
which would keep control in the conquered territories and at home.
Himmler, whose powers as head of the SS and several national
police agencies had become truly awe-inspiring, dreamed of
creating a modern day Knighthood of racially pure Aryans. Due to
these ambitions, and the high standards imposed on SS recruits,
the SS men were given an opportunity to prove themselves in
combat.

The experience of
the SS-VT units in Poland and France (by 1940, numbering just over
two divisions and renamed Waffen SS) was sufficient to ensure they
remained on the order of battle during the Balkans campaign in the
spring of 1941. By June 1941, five divisions (at least in name)
and a brigade were available for action. One of these, Wiking, had
half its strength made up of non-Germans: volunteers from across
Europe who had volunteered to fight against Communism in the East.
In addition, ethnic Germans in other nations were also permitted
to join German SS units.

Waffen SS
Divisions - 22 June 1941

Area of Deployment

Leibstandarte
SS Adolf Hitler (Motoriziert)

Army Group
South

SS Division (Motoriziert)
"Reich"

Army Group
Centre

SS Totenkopf
Division

Army Group
North

Polizei
Division (not technically part of the W-SS)

Army Group
North

SS Division (Motoriziert)
"Wiking"

Army Group
South

SS Kampfgruppe
"Nord" (brigade sized unit)

Northern
Finland

Despite poor
showings by Polizei and Nord, the performance of the other
divisions earned the Waffen SS a reputation for steadfastness and
respect from their comrades in the Army. The year 1942 saw several
more divisions created; Polizei joined the Waffen SS proper, and
both a mountain division and a Cavalry division were formed. The
former ("Prinz Eugen") was created from Austrian-Germans and
served (notoriously) on anti-partisan duties in Yugoslavia.

After the Waffen SS
played a starring role in the important capture of Kharkov in the
spring of 1943 (in the wake of the disastrous defeat at
Stalingrad), three new German SS divisions were recruited, along
with a growing list of foreign legions and divisions composed of
ethnic volunteers. By early 1945, the Waffen SS numbered some 38
divisions on paper, though many of these were in reality
fictitious, some divisions fielded a handful of companies. Racial
policies were relaxed and hopelessly confused in the closing years
of the war, and many "ethnic" SS formations were renamed several
times as the need for troops increased, and the apparent need for
racial purity not so coincidentally dissipated. By 1945, the
Waffen SS numbered some 800,000 men and accounted for 25 percent
of Germany's tank troops and 33 percent of Germany's motorized
infantry.

The Army usually
looked on the better SS divisions as "good comrades" and came to
respect their fighting abilities by the middle of the war.
Comradeship among Waffen SS troops was high; even taking the extra
step of eliminating the need for soldiers to address auperiors by
the formal "Herr" in addition to their rank. At the same time, the
SS showed a contempt for the human qualities of their enemies, and
the core divisions were truly feared on the battlefield for the
no-quarter attitude displayed by SS men, the higher scale of issue
of new weapons afforded them in deference to their "elite" status,
their willingness to take high casualties, and reluctance to yield
ground or break off an attack. SS formations have also gained a
reputation - before the war and after - for willful commission of
atrocities. Some units earned especial notoriety - Prinz Eugen in
Yugoslavia, for example, or the Hitlerjugend Division in Normandy.

Many foreign
legions were incorporated into the Waffen SS proper, more details
are found below under the various nationality headings. The raw
numbers of volunteers are as follows.

Number of Waffen
SS Volunteers by Nationality

Western Europe

Eastern (Axis
Allies)

Eastern Europe
(Soviet States and Other)

Belgium:
Walloons

15,000

Albania

3,000

Belorussia

12,000

Belgium:
Flemish

23,000

Bulgaria

1,000

Cossacks

50,000

Denmark

11,300

Croatia

20,000

Eastern Turks

8,000

France

8,000

Finland

1,000

Estonia

20,000

Italy

20,000

Romania

5,000

Latvia

39,000

Netherlands

22,000 to
50,000

Serbia

15,000

Norway

6,000

Ukraine

26,000

Spain

1,000

Sweden,
Switzerland & Luxemburg

3,000

It is estimated
some 180,000 SS soldiers were killed in World War Two (on all
fronts) with 400,000 wounded and 40,000 missing, In June 1944 the
Waffen SS had over 594,000 troops on its rolls (serving on all
three fronts), with 368,000 of them considered field troops.

The German Air
Force (Luftwaffe)

Like the SS, the
Luftwaffe was very much affected by the personality and political
clout of its commander. Hermann Goering, a World War One fighter
pilot and ace (who in fact commanded Baron von Richtofen's unit
after his death) was the number two man in Nazi Germany, holding
the title Reichsmarschall in addition to his command of the German
Air Force. Like Himmler, Goering wanted his personal empire to
play an important role in German victories. As early as 1933,
Goering had organized the General Goering Police Regiment (as part
of his portfolio as Prussian Minister of the Interior), which
later became the famed Hermann Goering Panzer Division.

By 1941, the
Luftwaffe numbered nearly 2,000,000 men, the largest percentage of
these being anti-aircraft personnel and signal troops, with a
small minority of men actually being associated with aerial
operations. Overall, of all of Germany's total manpower of armed
troops, the Air Force accounted for twenty percent. The first six
months of campaigning in Russia cost the Army some 700,000
casualties, with half that number again lost in the first three
months of 1942. Replacements could not make good these losses, and
front line Army units were continually short handed. When the Army
requested a transfer of 50,000 Air Force troops to their control,
Goering convinced Hitler that the solution was not to lose
politically loyal troops to the tradition bound Army (the Air
Force was considered most National Socialist of the three
services, the Navy was traditionally Christian, and the Army was
widely considered reactionary) but to create Luftwaffe ground
units. In September 1942, the first calls went out for volunteers,
with a target of 100,000 men set.

In the meantime,
Anti-Aircraft units had already accompanied Army troops into
Russia, and an entire division of paratroopers were employed for
the first time in a pure foot soldier role near Leningrad in the
autumn of 1941. (The zenith of German airborne operations had been
Crete, which proved so costly that Hitler forbade any future
parachute or glider operations.) As the Air Force followed the
Army deep into Russia, emergency units were created out of
necessity to combat partisans and for security duties around the
airfields and supply bases. Successful deployment of emergency
units in early 1942, necessitated by the Soviet counterattacks
against Army Group Centre, led to the creation of Luftwaffe Field
Regiments, and the satisfactory performance of Division Meindl in
particular prompted the creation of the first 10 Luftwaffe Field
Divisions in September 1942.

Field Divisions

The 10 Field
Divisions were widely scattered throughout Russia almost
immediately, and despite Goering's personal intention they be used
only on quiet fronts for defensive duties were employed in attack
roles - notably during the attempt to relieve the Sixth Army at
Stalingrad. Some divisions went to form all-Luftwaffe corps while
others were assigned to Army formations. Heavy casualty rates and
poor performance caused the Air Force and Army both to re-evaluate
their necessity, but nonetheless these ground divisions remained
on active duty throughout 1942 and into 1943. By the summer of
1943, 22 Field Divisions were in existence, and it was recognized
that they were not being employed for their original purpose of
security, and were occupying portions of line that regular Army
divisions would have occupied - but without much of the same
equipment (or training) that those Army divisions would have had.
Proposals to reorganize the divisions were not made before their
deficiencies were once again showcased by Soviet offensives in the
autumn of 1943. Heavy casualties ensued among the Luftwaffe men
fighting in several areas, and finally, in November, they were
ordered transferred to Army command.

The Army replaced
Luftwaffe officers up and down the chain of command in the
divisions with Army officers, upgraded equipment and organization
to match the standard Model 1944 Army Division, assigned Army post
office numbers and redesignated the former Luftwaffe Field
Divisions as Field Divisions (Luftwaffe). The reorganizations did
not go entirely smoothly; Anti-aircraft battalions never
transferred to Army command and were taken from the divisions, and
many veteran officers, NCOs and men transferred to other Luftwaffe
duties, notably paratroops units.

The beginning of
1944 saw the Field Divisions again suffer heavy casualties
defending against Soviet attacks along the front and by the end of
the summer of 1944 only two divisions were left in the Soviet
Union. They went on to fight with Army Group Kurland, some
remnants holding out until May 1945.

It is estimated
that 250,000 volunteers joined the Field Divisions in 1942 and
1943, and that 180,000 transferred to Army command in the winter
of 1943. Most of these men no doubt became casualties as the
divisions were destroyed in 1944. The experiment had been a costly
failure; not only in men's lives but also considering the issue of
weapons and vehicles had delayed the refitting of Army formations
that might have made better use of them.

Paratroops

By June of 1941,
the heyday of the German paratroops was over. After thrilling the
world by its exploits at Eben Emael in Holland in 1940, the
casualties suffered by parachute and glider troops on Crete in the
spring of 1941 caused Hitler to forbid their future employment in
their intended role. Two divisions of Fallschirmjäger came to be
employed in the Soviet Union, as ground troops.

Fallschirmpanzerdivision "Hermann Göring"

The Hermann Göring
Division had an extensive history from its beginnings as a
battalion in 1935, then regiment, then division, but did not see
service on the Eastern Front until August 1944, after which it
served extensively in the East, in the central sector until
February 1945, and in Poland and East Prussia until the end of
hostilities. This division formed the nucleus of an entire panzer
corps, but like the Panzer Korps Grossdeutschland, was a corps in
name only, most component units coming from the division of the
same name. Also like the Grossdeutschland, the HG was considered
an elite formation and received first rate equipment and recruits,
and was equipped as an armour-heavy panzergrenadier division with
two regiments organized identical to Army panzergrenadiers and a
full panzer regiment.

Other

In addition to the
paratroops and Field Divisions, there were other Air Force ground
units to participate in the ground fighting in Russia, including
emergency units and penal battalions, as well as the use of
anti-aircraft weapons in a ground role, especially "88" units.

Types of Infantry
Regiments in the German Military (Eastern Front 1941-1945)

Designation

Dates in
Service

Details

Composition

Infantry (Infanterie)

Sep 1939 - Nov
1942

Most common and
numerically important type of infantry unit. Generally
consisted of 3 infantry battalions, plus support units such as
an infantry gun company, anti-tank company and engineer
company.

In October
1942, all Infantry Regiments were redesignated "Grenadier"
Regiments, though no actual changes to the establishment of
such were made. "Grenadier" was a term used in the army of
Frederick the Great; the revival of the term by Hitler (an
admirer of Frederick the Great) was considered an honour.

Infantry
Divisions retained their designation, but were formed from the
newly named Grenadier Regiments. Slight changes during the
latter half of the war saw rifle squads reduced in size from
10 men to 9, though the scale of issue of semi-automatic and
automatic weapons was increased.

In addition to
Infantry Divisions, several other types of division were made
from Infantry Regiments - Security Divisions were raised in
1942, and used for garrison duty in occupied territories. In
September 1942, Reserve Divisions were formed also, to both
train recruits and for garrison duty.

In May 1944,
some Grenadier Regiments were reorganized into Grenadier
Brigades, later Grenadier Divisions - these were renamed in
October as Voksgrenadier Divisions.

Motorized
Infantry

(Infanterie (Motoriziert))

Sep 1939 - Oct
1942

A very small
selection of infantry regiments were transported by trucks;
these were grouped into motorized infantry divisions and not
to be confused with the infantry units organic to armoured
divisions. They were organized exactly as a standard infantry
regiment.

At first three
regiments per division, changed in early 1940 to two motorized
regiments per division. Motorized Infantry Divisions were
redesignated Motorized Grenadier Regiments in late 1942.

Motorized
Grenadier

(Grenadier (Motoriziert))

Oct 1942 - Jun
1943

A redesignation
of Motorized Infantry regiments occurring in tandem with the
designation of Grenadier Regiments (see above).

In the summer
of 1943 all Motorized Grenadier Regiments were converted to
Panzergrenadier Regiments.

Motorized Rifle

(Schützen)

Sep 1939 - late
1942/1943

Infantry units
attached to Panzer (Armoured) divisions were referred to as
Schützen regiments. They were motorized with a rare few units
having SPW armoured halftracks with the remained in trucks.

As mentioned at
left, these were the infantry units organic to Panzer
Divisions. Three battalions per Regiment, with 1 regiment per
Panzer division.

Armoured
Infantry

(Panzergrenadier)

Late 1942 - May
1945

In Nov 1942,
the granting of the honour title "Grenadier" was also extended
to the motorized infantry of Panzer Divisions, being renamed "Panzergrenadier",
as well as the reorganized Motorized Grenadier regiments.

The
Panzergrenadier Division was organized with two
panzergrenadier regiments and a battalion of tanks for
support. The Panzer Divisions also had their organic motorized
infantry redesignated as panzergrenadier.

Jäger

(Light
Infantry)

28 Jun 1942 -
1945

Originally
designated Light Infantry Divisions (leichte Infanterie
Division) and formed from infantry regiments, the Jäger
Division was formed from redesignated Jäger Regiments.

Gebirgsjäger

(Mountain
Troops)

1939 - 1945

Troops trained
in alpine operations, complete with special skills such as
skiing, climbing and rappelling. Lightly equipped, and using
special weaponry (i.e. the mountain carbine version of the K98
rifle, pack howitzers, etc.)

Organized into
Mountain Divisions, two regiments per division.

Fallschirmjäger

(Paratrooper)

1941 - 1945

Other than
commando type raids (such as a landing on Tito's headquarters
in Yugoslavia), mass parachute drops were not practiced after
the terrible losses suffered on Crete in 1941. Only two
parachute divisions fought in the East, both as regular ground
troops. Parachute divisions also saw action against the
Canadians in Italy and North-West Europe.

Jäger Regiment

(Luftwaffe)

1942 - 1943

Each Jäger
Regiment had only 2 battalions, with each battalion having an
HQ company, 3 rifle companies and a heavy weapons company. The
Luftwaffe Field Divisions had about half the strength of an
Army Division, with only 4 battalions of infantry as opposed
to 9.

Jäger Regiment

(Luftwaffe)

1944 - 1945

The new pattern
Jäger Regiment had two battalions, each battalion with an HQ
company, 3 rifle companies, and a heavy weapons company. The
Regiment also had an infantry assault gun company and an
anti-tank company.

The new Army
pattern Field Divisions (Luftwaffe) had three Jäger regiments
plus support units. A Division had a Fusilier battalion added
for reconnaissance duties, organized very similarly to a Jäger
battalion.

The Italian
Military

The Italian Army
had been instrumental in implementing the foreign policy of their
leader, Benito Mussolini ('Il Duce') almost as soon as he became
the youngest national leader in modern Italian history. In 1923 a
small force was sent to seize Corfu from the Greeks, though
political pressure made him back down. But his dreams of a new
Italian empire focused his gaze on other areas of the
Mediterranean, the Balkans, and northeastern Africa. An Italian
show of force in 1934 thwarted a German attempt at unification
with Austria, and diplomatic successes yielded some new
territories for Italy in Africa. Minor incidents in Abyssinia in
1934 precipitated the move of some 12 divisions to East Africa,
and hostilities were opened against Somalia in October 1935. In
May 1936, despite the official disapproval and sanctions of the
League of Nations, Italy was victorious. Mussolini further flexed
the Army's muscles by sending troops to fight in the Spanish Civil
War in 1936. In April 1939, a poorly organized and trained Italian
force landed in Albania - up til this time a protectorate of Italy
- and seized control.

In the meantime,
Italy had been drawn into Germany's sphere of influence,
officially joining the Axis with Germany and Japan in May 1939.
Mussolini fully realized Italy was unprepared to fight any major
wars for several years (after war began in September, optimistic
appraisals set the date of Italy's readiness at October 1942 at
the earliest), and Hitler never informed his new ally of the
attack on Poland. Mussolini, by now convinced of the myth of
Italian military might that had been set by his lucky successes of
the 1930s, declared war on France and Britain in 1940, choosing to
share Germany's destiny.

Mussolini sent a
60,000 man force called the "Italian Expeditionary Corps in
Russia" (Corpo Spedzione Italiane in Russia, or CSIR) to
participate in Barbarossa, feeling it would bring prestige and
material gains to support Germany in this endeavor. This initial
corps of three divisions (Pasubio and Torino, both infantry
divisions, as well as the 3rd Mobile Division), ostensibly
motorized, followed the Germans of Army Group South into the
Ukraine, mostly on foot. They were later joined by a Legion of
Blackshirts. The CSIR impressed the Germans at first, but the
initial high morale brought on by thoughts of an easy campaign (as
France had been in 1940) waned as it became apparent the Italian
force had neither the leadership, armour, motorized transport or
artillery and anti-tank weapons to be able to fight effectively
against the Red Army.

Nevertheless, a 2nd
Corps was also sent to the Soviet Union in March 1942 (Sforzesca,
Ravenna and Cosseria Divisions), as well as an elite Alpine Corps
of one infantry and three mountain divisions. More Blackshirt
units also were added to the CSIR, now renamed the 35th Corps.
This Italian force of 3 Corps eventually numbered over 225,000 men
and was grouped to create the 8th Army. In August 1942 it found
itself garrisoning the Don front after advancing with Army Group
B, to the north of Stalingrad. In December, an expected Soviet
counterattack disintegrated the 2nd and 35th Corps, stranding the
Alpine troops and creating a large breach in the Don line.

In January 1943 the
remnants of the force were assembled in the Ukraine, but the force
was returned to Italy by the Germans, with most units having
started the return journey in March, with some small units staying
behind to fight partisans. The 229,000 man 8th Army left behind
85,000 killed and missing soldiers, and 1,200 of the 1,340
artillery pieces destroyed or abandoned. Also a severe blow for
the Italians, for whom sufficient motor transport had always been
a sore point, was the loss of 18,200 motorized vehicles out of a
total complement of 20,000.

Some historians
argue that these forces might have had a larger impact on the
outcome of the war had they been sent to North Africa in 1941
instead of being squandered for little apparent purpose in the
Soviet Union. Mussolini was ousted in 1943 (to be captured,
rescued by German commandos and paratroops, and returned to
control of a puppet state in Northern Italy) and the nation
formally changed sides, to fight with the Allies.

The Japanese
Military

The
image of the Japanese soldier perpetuated in post-war
accounts of a trained jungle fighter is a false one.
Aside from receiving no specialized jungle training, the
majority of the Army in the opening months of the war
was assigned to China to keep order and face the threat
of Soviet attack. The bayonet, however, such as the one
brandished here, was a favoured weapon when training in
its use in other modern armies had all but vanished.

The image of the
Japanese soldier perpetuated in post-war accounts of a trained
jungle fighter is a false one. Aside from receiving no specialized
jungle training, the majority of the Army in the opening months of
the war was assigned to China to keep order and face the threat of
Soviet attack. The bayonet, however, such as the one brandished
here, was a favoured weapon when training in its use in other
modern armies had all but vanished.

While western
historians sometimes fail to appreciate the extent to which
Germany employed its divisions in the East from 1941 onwards, it
is also little appreciated how large Japan's commitment to its war
in China was. During the initial campaigns in the Pacific from Dec
1941 into the spring of 1942, only 11 divisions of 55 were
employed outside of China. The bulk of Japanese forces (and,
generally speaking, the highest quality formations as well as the
majority of their relatively small armoured forces) were retained
on the Chinese mainland, protecting interests there and
safeguarding against a war with the Soviet Union that was felt by
the Japanese to be inevitable.

In 1941, the
Imperial Japanese Army had 51 divisions (of these, 35 were
deployed to China/Manchuria) and various special-purpose
artillery, cavalry, anti-aircraft and armoured units with a total
of 1,700,000 men. From 1942 soldiers were sent to Hong Kong (23rd
Army), the Philippines (14th Army), Thailand (15th Army), Burma
(15th Army), Dutch East Indies (16th Army) and Malaya (25th Army).
In 1943, the army had grown to 70 divisions, with 42 (including
two armoured divisions) deployed to China or Manchuria. In 1944
and early 1945, the army grew to 99 divisions, with 37 stationed
in China/Manchuria. In the middle of 1945, 164 (and eventually
174) divisions had been raised, with just 43 serving in
China/Manchuria.

Canadian troops
would meet Japanese in battle only once, at Hong Kong in Dec 1941
in a campaign notable for the controversial nature of their
deployment there as well as the brutality of their enemies both
during and after the fighting. Canadian soldiers went to the
Aleutian Islands in 1943 to find the Japanese had fled. A Canadian
Army Pacific Force also went into training in 1945 after the
European war had ended, though the atomic bombings in Aug 1945
ended the war before their deployment. Burdened with second-rate
equipment, poorly supplied, and often ill-trained, the Japanese
soldier was conditioned in a feudal culture of death, honour and
duty that made him a savage opponent and perhaps the only sizeable
military force in history to truly come close to "fighting to the
last man" in the literal sense of that over-used phrase.

Europe
on 22 June 1941.

Military Forces of
the Axis Minors

Axis minor powers
assisted both the Japanese in Asia and the Germans in Europe and
Africa.

The war against the
Soviet Union was a massive undertaking for Germany, who was
outnumbered from the minute the first Brandenburg commandos
started crossing the border on 22 June 1941. Germany relied on the
assistance of several nations in Eastern Europe, most notably the
Finns, who fought a border war with Russia in 1939-1940, and
Romania, who fielded a very large army and also had territorial
axes to grind. When it became obvious that the war would not be
won quickly, cheaply or easily, Germany turned more and more to
other nations and national groups for volunteers, extending across
the entire continent. Below is the briefest of overviews of the
major Axis participants in the war against the USSR.

Many European
nations committed to Hitler's self-professed crusade against
communism and "bolshevism", with the foremost thought of earning a
favourable place in post-war Europe. By 1944, Germany's allies
were crumbling away, again seeking to better their postwar
situation with Soviet and Allied victory almost a certainty.

In addition to the
armies of their own nations, many European countries (even those
not allied with Germany) sent individual volunteers to fight with
the German military. The higher numbered Waffen SS divisions, for
example, were heavily recruited from throughout eastern (and even
western) Europe from 1943 onwards.

In addition to
military service (see below under Soviet volunteers), many men
from the conquered Soviet territories also served in security and
police units behind German lines, many assisting in logistical
support as well as taking a very active part in the Final
Solution, providing execution squads to augment and assist the
German police and "special action" units. On the German home
front, untold millions of persons throughout Europe were also
pressed into service by the Germans as slave labour.

As early as 1941,
the Germans were astonished at the large numbers of Soviet
nationals flocking to join the fight against Stalin. Initially,
the German need for social order and racial purity did not allow
for the recruitment of foreign nationals, or at least not under
arms. Units at the front often saw things differently, and even in
the first months of the war, when casualties were heavy, and as
the war in the East dragged on with even heavier losses, the
bizarre racial policies of the Third Reich became more and more
irrelevant in comparison to the need to find willing allies. It
was not long before official policies were modified or abandoned
in favour of arming and equipping an ever-widening array of men
from different nationalities, religions, and even races; these
changes would see Moslem Bosnians (with the fez as part of their
uniform), turbaned Sikhs from India, and asiatic soldiers from the
south all serving in German uniform by 1944, for just three
examples.

The history of
allied forces on the Russian Front can be outlined in five
distinct phases:

June 1941 -
Spring 1942

The opening of
Barbarossa: strong contingents from Romania, Italy and Finland
, as well as smaller contingents from Slovakia, Italy and
Hungary, make deep advances into the Soviet Union. These
contingents were depleted by the spring of 1942, and the Finns
flatly refused to advance any farther than their 1939 frontier
lines.

Summer 1942 -
1943

German plans
for a renewed summer offensive call for increased manpower; in
exchange for providing troops, Hungary and Romania demand the
right to field independent national formations, and these went
into action during the summer offensive. As these forces were
over-extended during the advance to Stalingrad, the Soviets
took advantage of their weaknesses, and smashed the Romanian
forces on the flanks of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, and
proceeded to destroy the Italian and Hungarian forces in the
region as well.

1943 - early
1944

During 1943,
general mistrust of the eastern Allies led to their
contingents being sent home, or placed on garrison and coastal
duties, where morale sank. The governments of the Axis allies,
seeing the writing on the wall, begin to discuss peace with
the western Allies. Italy changed sides in September 1943
after Sicily was conquered by the western allies and landings
were made in southern Italy.

1944

As the German
forces are driven from the Soviet Union and towards the
borders of the minor Axis partners, the Romanian, Hungarian
and Slovakian armies briefly revitalize and prepare to defend
their native territory. The Romanians are once again badly
hurt by the Soviets, and change sides. The Slovaks suffered
through a failed revolt against the fascist government and an
attempt to leave their alliance with Germany. Finland
successfully sued for peace in August and the Germans were
pushed out of the country.

1945

The final phase
of the war in the East saw the Romanians and Finns actively
opposed to the Germans, and Slovakia occupied by the Germans,
with Hungary still an ally due to a German coup and new
fascist government in power.

In 1942, the Axis
minor allies had contributed about 25% of the divisions on the
Eastern Front operating against the Red Army; their lack of
equipment, training, and morale was a serious deficiency that was
deftly exploited by the Soviets, though in many cases these armies
were able to fight well, especially the Finns who were highly
regarded by the Germans and Soviets alike.

In addition,
foreign volunteers serving directly in the German forces amounted
to 3.07 million men, or 18% of the total strength of Germany's
armed forces. From 1 September 1939 to 31 January 1945, their
losses were over 85,000 dead, 118,000 wounded and 37,000 missing.

Albania

Albania had been
annexed by the Italians in 1939, having originally declared the
region an Italian protectorate in 1927. 21.
Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg (Albanische Nr. 1) was
authorized in April 1944 utilizing Moslem volunteers hailing from
Albania and Kosovo, though several thousand sailors of the German
Navy were also formed into the new division. Employed on
anti-partisan duties in October 1944, the large number of
deserters in two months (some 3,500) caused the division to be
disbanded. A German cadre of remaining troops were organized into
Kampfgruppe Skanderbeg and fought on with the 7th SS Division ("Prinz
Eugen"), seeing action in Yugoslavia and according to one source,
possibly on the Oder in February 1945.

Belgium

Following German
occupation of the country in 1940, one of the two national groups
- the Flemish - found themselves favoured by the Germans over the
other national group, the Walloons. After the invasion of the
Soviet Union, Flemish volunteers wanting to fight communism in the
East were permitted to enlist in the Waffen SS while the Walloons
would initially only be accepted by the Army.

Flemish

In March 1943, the
Volunteer Legion Flandern was reorganized as 6. SS Freiwilligen
Sturmbrigade "Langemarck". This unit, composed of Flemish
volunteers (with perhaps some Finnish troops as well) saw action
in the Ukraine in late 1943, suffered heavy lossed at Zhitomir in
early 1944, and after rest and refitting in Czechoslovakia went
back into action on the Narva front in July. The remnants withdrew
in September 1944 where the unit was expanded to divisional
status, known as the 27th Freiwilligen Grenadier Division "Langemarck".
(Possibly also with Flämische Nr. 1 suffixing the divisional
designation). The division was made up of Flemish soldiers,
sailors and airmen, as well as other labour and political groups.
One of these groups was the Vlaamse Wacht, a German security unit
raised in Flanders who in July 1944 received German uniforms. Some
four battalions, or 3,000 men it total, had been intended for
defence of Flemish territory but instead the majority went to join
the 27th SS Division. The Division saw action in the East from
January 1945 onwards, surrendering in May 1945.

Walloon

Walloon Infantry
Battalion No. 373, was formed, chiefly from members of the fascist
"Rexist" party in Belgium, and was attached to the 100th Jäger
Division, fighting its first major battle during the Soviet
counter offensive of 1941. Some 300 of the battalion's 600
Belgians managed a successful defensive battle, and though some 30
percent casualties were suffered, the Germans were suitably
impressed with their abilities. It remained in the line until
March 1942 when its shortages of men caused it to be withdrawn. It
saw action again in May, and by July was attached to the German
97th Infantry Division and advanced some 800 km during a single
month of the German summer offensive. After hard fighting in the
Caucasus, it withdrew to Germany to refit.

By June 1943, the
unit was back up to strength and the rapidly expanding Waffen SS
accepted the "Legion Wallonie" into its own ranks, expanded, and
titled the 5. SS Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Wallonien." In late
1943 and early 1944 the brigade distinguished itself fighting
alongside the German Wiking SS Division. Only 632 men were fit for
duty of the original 2,000 after being cut off in the Tscherkassy
Pocket. After rest and refit, the division moved to the Narva
front in the spring of 1944, and was upgraded to divisional status
by October 1944, becoming the 28th SS Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier
Division "Wallonien" including Spanish and French troops as well.
The division briefly served in the west, then in early 1945 moved
back to the Eastern Front where it was reduced to some 700 men
during the fighting in February, March and April.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria had a deep
rooted mistrust and fear of Stalin's Soviet Union; their
declaration of war on 13 December 1941 was aimed at Britain and
America so as not to antagonize the Soviets. Bulgarian fear was
not misplaced; Stalin did indeed seek greater influence in that
country, which Hitler was able to use to advantage. While Bulgaria
did not send troops to fight against Russia, their army did
conduct garrison and anti-partisan duties - a role their army
conducted with great efficiency. Bulgaria let German troops pass
through during the fighting in Yugoslavia and Greece in the spring
of 1941, even offering flank protection to German forces fighting
the Greeks along the Metaxas Line.

Bulgaria's reward
was 50,000 square kilometres of new territory, and Bulgarian
troops served in anti-partisan duties in former Greek and
Yugoslavian areas such as Macedonia, Thrace and Salonika, as well
as spending three years in western Macedonia and Serbia defending
German supply lines. The latter areas, annexed officially by
Bulgaria in May 1941, were ruthlessly policed, so much so that no
partisan movements developed until 1944.

The best troops of
the Bulgarian army deployed along the frontier with Turkey (for
fear of Turkish intervention on the part of the Allies), while
reserve soldiers, mainly, served on security duties and gained a
reputation for ill discipline and harsh treatment of civilians.
Bulgaria's hatred of the Turks and Greeks made them a politically
reliable ally, and though even the best of the Bulgarian army
would have been an impediment on the Russian Front, they performed
their security duties well. When Tsar Boris III died in 1944, with
Soviet forces on Hungary's border, a pro-Allied coup took place in
September and Bulgaria switched sides. Morale under the new Soviet
command was poor, and Bulgarian forces did not have much success
in their new role of harassing the German retreat from Greece and
the Aegean. Some Bulgarian forces advanced as far as Austria,
linking with British forces shortly after VE Day.

In 41 months of
anti-partisan duties, 1,000 soldiers and policemen of a force of
100,000 had been killed. Under the brief period of Soviet command
in the last months of the war, the 450,000 man Bulgarian army lost
over 30,000 killed, wounded and missing.

Croatia

Croatia was created
on 10 April 1941 after the capitulation of the Royal Yugoslavian
Army to the Germans. The majority of the Croatian army and several
militia groups were used in Bosnia and Herzogovina against Serbian
partisans.

A German-Croat
Legion served in southern Russia, officially titled the 369th
Reinforced Croat Infantry Regiment and performed well against
partisans and later the Red Army as it advanced towards Kharkov
attached to the German 100th Jäger Division. The unit fought near
Stalino during the Soviet counter offensives, and advanced once
again with the Sixth Army towards Stalingrad. The Regiment was
destroyed in the fighting there, in several locations around the
perimeter of the Stalingrad Kessel and also seeing action at the
famous Red October plant.

In March 1943, a
volunteer division was announced - numbered 369 in honour of the
destroyed regiment in Stalingrad. The division was commanded by a
German general with many German officers and NCOs, but the rank
and file consisted almost entirely of Croatians. The 369th and
370th Infantry Regiments made up the division, with the 369th
Artillery Regiment, and though the division was destined for the
Soviet Union, it remained in Yugoslavia combating Tito's
partisans.

A second division,
the 373rd (made up of the 383rd and 384th Infantry Regiments as
well as the 373rd Artillery Regiment) was created in late 1943,
and a third division numbered 392 (composed of the 846 and 847
Infantry Regiments and 392nd Artillery Regiment) was created in
1944. All three divisions saw action against Tito's partisans
until May 1945. One source indicates the 369th was called "Devil's
Division," the 373rd was dubbed "Tiger Division" and the 392nd
"Blue Division."

An Italian-Croat
Blackshirt Legion was also formed, in imitation of the German
369th Regiment. A force of 1,211 men was created, dubbed the
Motorized Croation Legion (Legione Croata Autotransportable), and
sent into action in April 1942. The Legion performed adequately,
but was destroyed with the other units of the 8th Army in December
1942. Some members of the Legion apparently changed sides to fight
with the 1st Yugoslav Brigade of the Red Army. An abortive attempt
to raise a second legion was made in May 1943.

Croatian men were
also conscripted into the 7th SS Division "Prinz Eugen" who gained
notoriety during their anti-partisan activities in Yugoslavia. The
13th Waffen SS Division (variously titled "Handschar" and/or "Croatian
Number 1") was also recruited from Bosnian Moslems, who were the
traditional enemies of the Croatian Serbs from whom Yugoslav
partisan leader Tito drew most of his manpower from.

Recruiting began
for the 23. Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS "Kama" (Kroatische Nr.
2) in June 1944 but the rapidity of Soviet advances led to an
abandonment of this division in September 1944, and the troops
went to reinforce other units, with NCOs notably joining the
Handschar Division mentioned above.

Croatian security
forces of the Ustashi (Fascist) government were extremely brutal
and openly genocidal, liquidating any non-Croats in their areas of
responsibility, mostly Serbian civilians.

Estonia

Estonia had been
occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939 and formally annexed as part
of the Soviet Union in 1940. German troops occupied Estonia in
1941 until the country's "liberation" by the Red Army in 1944, and
its return to the Soviet Union.

Early Estonian
defence forces numbered 13 regional defence units and a rail
security force, collectively called the Civil Guard (later
Self-Defence Corps). In the autumn of 1941 six Estonian security
detachments were raised, and on 1 January 1943, these detachments
went to form Estonian Company 657 and Estonian Battalions 658, 659
and 660. They transferred to the Waffen SS in the spring of 1944.

The Germans raised
an Estonian Legion in the spring of 1943, designated 3. Estonian
SS Volunteer Brigade (3. Estnische SS-Freiwilligen Brigade), went
into action at Nevel in the autumn of 1943, and expanded to
divisional status in January 1944, becoming 20. Waffen Grenadier
Division der SS (Estnische Nr. 1) and utilizing conscripted
Estonian Army troops and a cadre from a German SS infantry
brigade. The division saw further action at Narva in the spring
and summer of 1944, avoided being encircled in Kurland, retreated
to Silesia and surrendered to the Red Army in May 1945.

Six Estonian
battalions were raised in February 1944 for domestic defence,
numbering some 38,000 troops. Four of them with German artillery,
divisional support troops and staff formed the Special Purpose
Division 300 (Div.zbV 300), also known as the Estonian Frontier
Guards Division. Totaling 20,000 men, this formation was in fact
the largest Axis unit on the entire Narva front and was given the
largest section of front to defend. Divided into two brigades, the
division came under heavy attack on 18 September, and was broken
up as it retreated, leaving behind small groups to fight it out
with the advancing Red Army in the marshy terrain near Lake Peipus.

Finland

Finland had already
waged a bitter war with the Russians between Nov 1939 and Mar
1940, and entered into a partnership with Germany, for
self-defence, and in the event of war between Germany and Russia,
pledging to assist Germany with the sole aim of recovering
territory lost in the "Winter War."

The "Continuation
War", as the Finns called it, began when the Germans invaded the
Soviet Union in June 1941. Finland was divided into a northern and
southern front. In the south, the Finns recovered territory in the
Karelian isthmus that had been lost in 1939-40, as well as some
smaller new gains in Soviet territory, and halted in September
1941. In the north, aided by German troops, operations were less
successful, and the goal of cutting the Murmansk railway was not
achieved. By December 1941, when it became apparent that Germany
would not achieve ultimate victory that year, the Finns decided to
stabilize their front, fearful of heavy losses and economic
disruption that would be part and parcel of a long campaign. The
Germans were not happy, but realizing that their troops were ill
prepared to fight in the northern regions (the German 36th Corps
had barely advanced at all on the northern front), could not force
the issue. The Finnish front remained static until Jun 1944.

Half a million Red
Army troops attacked the Karelian isthmus in Jun 1944, but the
Finns managed to stage a fighting withdrawal, with the help of
German infantry and assault guns, as well as a Finnish armoured
division formed in late 1943. By the end of June, the Finns were
once more forced back to the post-1940 frontier, but managed to
dig in along that line. All the gains of the Continuation War had
been lost. In Aug 1944, Finland concluded an alliance with the
Soviet Union, and though some minor skirmishes occurred between
Finnish and German troops, the Germans reluctantly pulled their
troops out of Finland and into northern Norway.

Finland's army,
some 400,000 men, had suffered 55,000 killed during the Second
World War, and though economic ruin had been a result, the bravery
and skill of the Finnish Army had preserved their sovereignty.

A battalion of
Finns also served in the Waffen SS in the Ukraine before being
repatriated to the Finnish Army in Jun 1943. The Finnisches
Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS served from 1941-43 and
consisted of approximately 1,400 soldiers. The unit was recruited
as a state sponsored activity in order to receive German support
after the experiences of fighting the Red Army alone in the Winter
War. Finnish soldiers were unique among Waffen SS volunteers in
not swearing an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler by name. Once
their initial commitment was complete, the Finns returned home
with a handful remaining in the SS afterwards. A relatively small
proportion of Finns held fascist beliefs and/or endorsed the anti-semetic
views of their German allies in comparison to other Axis nations.

France

After the
capitulation of France in June 1940, a puppet state known as Vichy
France was set up in the southern part of the country, which
included also France's North African possessions. The northern
part of the country was garrisoned by German forces. France and
Germany had fought each other in 1870-71 during the
Franco-Prussian War, and of course territory changed hands in
1918, with French troops remaining in the Rhineland on occupation
duty long after the conclusion of the Great War.

The French
Volunteer Legion (Legion des Voluntaires Francais contre le
Bolshevisme, or LVF for short) was raised in 1941, with volunteers
coming not from Vichy France but from fascist groups in Paris at
about the same time as Belgian volunteers were mobilizing for
Germany's war in the East. The LVF was more formally known as the
638th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, consisting of three infantry
battalions, the first two of which moved to Russia to join the
German 7th Infantry Division in October. The first combat actions
took place during the Soviet counter-offensives of 1941-42, and
the 2nd battalion was virtually wiped out. The other two
battalions were used primarily for anti-partisan work in Army
Group Centre after that. A 2nd battalion was not created until
late in 1943, when the regiment could once again be reformed as
such. Anti-partisan work continued until the summer of 1944 when
Soviet offensives again placed the Frenchmen in harm's way. One
battle group of some 300 men so impressed the Russians with their
defensive fighting abilities that they were mistaken for a force
totaling some two divisions.

The shattered
remnants of the regiment reformed in East Prussia and on 1
September 1944, despite audible protests from many survivors, the
group was merged with the French SS Volunteer Grenadier Regiment
(formed in 1943 and also victim of severe casualties in 1944) as
well as Frenchmen from other military and paramilitary
organizations including the Navy, NSKK and Milice, to form the new
Volunteer Assault Brigade "Charlemagne."

On paper, this unit
was expanded to divisional strength in February 1945 to become the
33rd Waffen Grenadier Division der Waffen SS "Charlemagne". The
division saw extensive combat in the east, and briefly in the
west.

Hungary

Hungary, with a
long tradition of power as an ally of the Holy Roman Empire, and
later member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had proudly fought
alongside Germany in World War One, and like Germany, was greatly
reduced in power after their defeat. Limited to an army of 35,000
men, the Kingdom of Hungary had also been reduced by nearly
two-thirds of its territory and population by the 1920 Treaty of
Trianon. Hungary therefore had scores to settle, developing close
links with Fascist Italy and more reluctantly with Nazi Germany.
Rearmament began in earnest in 1939, especially after obtaining
southern Slovakia in 1938. Hitler allowed Hungary to take Ruthenia
back from the Czechs in March 1939, and in August 1940 Hitler
arranged for northern Transylvania to transfer from Romania to
Hungary. It is noted that the Germans later found it necessary,
once fighting in the Soviet Union, to keep Hungarian and Romanian
units as widely seperated from each other as possible, lest they
take to fighting each other rather than the Red Army.

The bulk of the
Hungarian army deployed to the Carpathians in anticipation of
Barbarossa, and sought to gain for itself while offering the
Germans a minimum of assistance. During the invasion of Yugoslavia
in April 1941, Hungary managed to regain almost all of the
territory lost after World War One, though naturally Yugoslavia
was alienated just as Romania had been, and Hungary became very
much dependent on German support for national security.

As repayment,
Hungary offered assistance to the German forces involved in
Barbarossa, and declared war on Russia on 27 June 1941. German and
Hungarian officers worked well together at the tactical level;
many senior Hungarian officers had experience in the Austrian Army
during the First World War, and many Hungarian officers were in
fact fluent in German. Hungarian troops were appalled by German
policies towards civilians in the Soviet Union, and apparently
tried to intervene in some cases (especially where Jews serving in
Hungarian labour battalions were singled out for persecution).
However, some Hungarian troops did also take part in questionable
actions in Yugoslavia in 1941-42.

Hungarian troops
did advance into the Ukraine, and across the Dniepr, and despite
the very odd mix of horses, bicycles and civilian pattern
vehicles, the so-called "Mobile Corps" fought well over a 600 mile
advance to reach the Donets basin area - at the cost of 80 percent
of its motorized transport and 26,000 casualties.

By the spring of
1942, a 200,000 man Hungarian army was mobilized, moving to
defensive positions on the Don during June 1942, and staying there
until smashed in a Russian winter offensive in January 1943,
leaving behind 50,000 men as prisoners, and losing 30,000 more as
casualties. The 2nd Hungarian Army was sent home in March 1943
(Hungary by this point had become what was described as a neutral
country, free of rationing or compulsory military service). The
8th Hungarian Corps was the only formation to remain in action on
the Eastern Front, and was called the "Dead Army" and consisted
mostly of reserve regiments. The Corps was mostly engaged in
anti-partisan work, along with many security formations in the
Ukraine.

As time passed,
Hungarian forces in the Ukraine formed truces with local
partisans, again keeping with the theme of gaining for themselves
with a minimum of assistance to the Germans. Hungarian troops did
not fight at Kursk, nor did they take part in the reduction of the
Warsaw uprising, where in fact one artillery unit tried to sell
their guns to the insurgents; the Germans stopped this from
occurring and understandably demanded the Hungarians be sent
elsewhere. Major reorganizations of the entire Hungarian military
took place at this time, mid-1943, and Hitler became so worried
about Hungary seeking to opt out of the war that German troops
were ordered in during March and April of 1944. The Hungarian army
was ordered not to resist, but ironically was mobilized fully for
the first time during the war at this point.

In August 1944,
Romania defected to the Allies, leaving Hungary's flank exposed.
Hastily assembled units were moved to Transylvania, but Red Army
and Romanian forces crossed the Carpathians and Hungarian units
began individually defecting to the Soviets. Hungary proclaimed an
armistice on 15 October 1944, but Vice Admiral Horthy, the Regent,
was arrested and the Hungarian army was placed under German
control directly. By December 1944, now stiffened with German
troops, the Hungarian army retreated into Slovenia. Much fighting
in Hungary itself raged through the early months of 1945, while a
rival Hungarian government was set up by the Soviets and company
and battalion sized Hungarian units were integrated into Soviet
divisions. The new government promised Stalin 8 divisions - in the
end only one was deployed - but the war was over before real
combat could be entered into.

Hungary's
contribution to the anti-partisan war had also been minimal; five
divisions were provided to the Germans, though they were of poor
quality. The worst four were put in a minor sentry role, and the
remaining division was used for railway security.

Between 136,000 and
148,000 Hungarian soldiers had died in the Second World War, with
50,000 more dying in Soviet captivity.

India

Indian National
Army

The Indian National
Army (Azad Hind Fauj) served as an auxiliary force under command
of the Imperial Japanese Army, composed mainly of Indian prisoners
of war originally captured by the Germans, as wellas civilians
recruited by the Japanese in Malaya and Burma. The INA's goals
were to erode British control of India, a goal the Japanese felt
comfortable in supporting with material assistance. Japan had no
plans on invading India but desired both a friendly government on
the western boundary of their empire, as well as the expulsion of
Europeans from the Asian continent.

Indian opposition
to British rule was keenly felt, and efforts made by the Italians
and Germans to recruit Indians (from among the thousands captured
in North Africa) for service against the Allies were reasonably
successful. The Italians organized a special commando type unit in
May 1942 which included 400 Indians amongs its 1800 personnel.
They were not employed in the Soviet Union but in Africa, and
mutinied upon hearing of the German defeat at El Alamein. The
Indians were returned to their POW camps, though German efforts to
recruit them would later be successful also (see below).

The INA was
reformed from about 12,000 troops, with from 8,000 to 10,000 other
ex-Indian Army personnel being recruited and 18,000 Indian
civilians being enlisted. At war's end some 40,000 troops were
still under arms. A force of Indians managed to establish a small
provisional government in Moirang, Manipur, after a trek via
Burma. The INA was defeated within a few months and withdrew into
Burma with the British still in contact. The survivors of the INA
surrendered at war's end, and their leader, Subhas Chandra Bose,
died when his plane crashed as he attempted to flee to the Soviet
Union.

(Above): Subhash Chandra Bose, leader of the Indian National
Army, with an unidentified German officer.

(Right): German racial sensibilities fell by the wayside as
the war grew longer.

Indians in German
Service

German recruiting
efforts were more successful than that of the Italians; beginning
in Jan 1942, from an initial recruitment of 8 volunteers the
"Indian National Army" grew to include some 2,000 men by mid 1943
(though not all had "volunteered). On 26 Aug 1942, the Legion
Freies Indien became an official unit of the German Army, also
referred to as Indisches Infanterie Regiment 950. Some of the
regiment's German commissioned officers began to be replaced by
Indian officers, newly commissioned after service as German NCOs.
The unit was later referred to instead as Panzergrenadier Regiment
950 (Indische) due to its partially motorized status.

While Regiment 950
was composed of men of several religions and nationalities
(including Moslems, Hindus, Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs, Marathas and
Garhwalis), Indians specifically of the Moslem faith were
considered for recruitment into the 13th Waffen SS Division. This
division, however, was recruited mainly from Bosnian Moslems and
it was not felt that the Indians and Europeans would mix well, so
the idea was abandoned.

The Free India
Legion/Infantry Regiment 950 was envisioned as a force to be used
in German advances through the Caucasus into Iran and India. Small
numbers of Indian troops were in fact parachuted into Persia to
begin sabotage operations in anticipation of a national revolt
against the British. However, the defeat at Stalingrad took
attacks into India itself out of the realm of possibility. Small
numbers of picked men and officers were taken away for a move to
the Far East, while the majority of the Legion moved to the
Netherlands for garrison duty, arriving in the spring of 1943 and
remaining until September. The cold weather forced a redeployment
of the regiment to the south of France, where the unit was
inspected by Field Marshall Rommel (responsible for the original
capture of most of these troops when they served against him in
North Africa) in April 1944. In August 1944, the 2,300 man Legion
was transferred - with all German Army national legions - to the
Waffen SS and being retitled Indische Freiwilligen Legion der
Waffen SS. On the same day that the Allies landed in southern
France, the Indian Legion was moved to Germany. The first death in
combat occurred during fighting with French troops in September as
the unit moved back through France to Germany on foot.

The Legion remained
in Germany until Mar 1945, eventually seeking sanctuary in neutral
Swiss territory by attempting to march around Lake Constance to
gain entry to Switzerland via alpine pass, but the Legion was
captured by allied troops. Some were shot by French troops, the
rest were turned over to the British, who shipped them back to
India, where they were dealt with leniently.

Latvia

Latvia was an
authoritarian state in the 1930s; when Germany and the Soviet
Union formed an alliance in August 1939, the nation was occupied
by the Soviets, and formally annexed the next year. In the ensuing
year some 35,000 Latvians were killed, deported or forced to flee
the country.

After the German
invasion of the Soviet Union, of which Latvia was technically a
part, Latvia created several security formations to help protect
the German rear areas, known as "Schuma-Battaillone." In early
1943 some of these battalions were formed into a Latvian SS
Volunteer Legion (Lettische SS Freiwilligen Legion), later
redesignated a Brigade. In November 1943 this brigade went into
action on the Nevel line, and in early 1944 was expanded to become
15th Waffen Grenadier Division der SS (Lettische Nr. 1). The unit
fought at Narva in the summer of 1944, refitted late in the year,
and suffered many losses in Danzig in 1945. Parts of the division
escaped to the west to surrender to the US. Of all Baltic forces
fighting for the Germans, the 15th SS Division is said to have the
best fighting record. A scond division, titled 19th Waffen
Grenadier Division der SS (Lettische Nr. 2) was formed in early
1944, also from Latvian security troops, and fought on the Baltic
Coast and Kurland before surrendering at Mitau in May 1945.

As the German Army
retreated into the Baltic area in early 1944, autonomous
governments were allowed to take power in Estonia and Latvia to
allow men of draft age to be called up for national service. The
Germans raised several Grenzshutz Regiments (Border Guard
Regiments) in February 1944. Six of these 2,700 man strong Latvian
regiments were sent to the front immediately, at first as a battle
group and later parcelled out to German divisions. They were
horribly mauled and disbanded between July and September 1944,
some survivors going to the 19th SS Division mentioned above.

In all some 450,000
Latvians died in the Second World War, and 175,000 more would die
or be deported in the four years following the war, and the return
to Stalinist rule.

Lithuania

Lithuania, who had
also been annexed by the Soviet Union in the same fashion as
Estonia and Latvia, made no direct contribution to the ground war
against the Soviet Union other than the formation of construction
battalions.

The Netherlands

While much has been
written about the operations of the Dutch resistance after the
country's collapse in 1940, as well as free units such as the
Princess Irene Brigade, a significant number of Dutch men actively
collaborated with the Germans, including service in the German
armed forces. In 1941, about 3 percent of adult males belonged to
the national socialist NSB party.

Approximately
20,000 to 25,000 Dutch served in both the German Army and the
Waffen SS, including formations such as
4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland and Landstorm
Nederland, seeing combat almost exclusively on the Eastern Front.
Dutch troops played a brief part in fighting during Operation
MARKET GARDEN in Sep 1944, and some Dutch troops saw action at
Groningen.

Romania

Romania had fought
with the Allies in the Great War, victory bringing with it control
of Bessarabia and Transylvania, both regions of which were heavily
populated by ethnic Romanians. (The term Romania is preferred by
the oft-used spelling Rumania; the Romanian people popularly saw
themselves as the Latins of Eastern Europe.) Other ethnics did
live in these regions, however, and the Soviet Union and Hungary
both felt resentment towards the loss of territory in these
regions. Romania opted for a defensive attitude between the wars,
choosing to seek alliance with France, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

By 1940, Romania's
allies had been defeated militarily by Germany, and Romania in
turn was forced to surrender much territory to the USSR, Hungary
and Bulgaria. Dependent on Germany's favour for its continued
existence, Romania officially joined the Axis on 23 Nov 1940

While a member of
the Axis, Romania maintained the third largest army to serve
against the Soviets in eastern Europe, and in 1944-45 fielded the
fourth largest army of all the Western Allies, after the USSR, US,
and UK (putting some 538,000 troops into the field against the
Axis). One of Romania's main war aims, similar to that of Finland,
was the restoration of territory lost in 1940.

The territorial
losses of 1940 reduced the manpower pool for the armed forces from
2,200,000 to 1,500,000, causing some disbandments of the recently
re-armed and expanded active army. After territory in
Transylvania, Bessarabia and northern Bucovina were liberated from
the Soviets, the manpower pool was increased, though shortages of
weapons did not allow these manpower boosts to be translated
directly into new field formations.

Romania's war
leader (holding the title Conducator (Leader)) was General Armata
Ion Antonescu, who suppressed an attempted coup on the current
coalition government in January 1941 and remained in power until
overthrown in August 1944. The Army itself suffered from a lack of
NCOs; mass expansion of the Army during the war diluted the NCO
corps and limited education and training only allowed for a
minimum of competency among many. The peasantry that contributed
most of the rank and file were also ill-educated, not well
trained, and ill-equipped. The Army was expanded from a total of
130,000 men under arms in 1937 to 686,000 at the start of
Barbarossa. Even this total was doubled by June 1944.

The Romanian Army
desired full mechanization, but the single Ford motor plant in the
nation could only produce some 10 vehicles a day; 1938 saw only
34,000 motor vehicles in the entire nation with 10,000 of them
being trucks. Horseflesh remained the main method of transport for
artillery and equipment; some 525,000 horses were lost between
1941 and 1944 (from a national total of 1, 268,000 equines.) The
Romanians also used a variety of armour from French, Czech and
German sources, as well as captured Soviet types.

Romanian
involvement in the anti-partisan war was limited; two divisions
did security duty in Romanian occupied portions of the Ukraine,
where there was little partisan activity in any event.

Some 54,000
Romanian-born Germans also served in the SS and 15,000 more in the
German Army and Organization Todt, with 6,000 Romanian-speaking
soldiers serving directly in the German forces also.

Romania had been
tyhe largest ally Germany had on the Russian Front between June
1941 and August 1944, and had been generally effective, inflicting
punishment on the Soviets in equal measure for punishment taken
until Stalingrad. A high proportion of Romania's 1.8 million man
army saw action in the Soviet Union. Some 71,000 Romanians were
killed fighting the Soviet Union, with 234,000 wounded and 310,000
missing, most of whom were killed in action or as POWs.

Serbia

Serbia was
officially an occupied zone, but did raise a limited number of
security troops. The only reliable anti-partisan force, the
"Serbian Volunteer Command", was absorbed en masse into the Waffen
SS in October 1944. Other forces raised in Serbia only saw limited
duty in guard and security roles.

Slovakia

Slovakia had
belonged to Hungary before 1918; after Hitler took control of
Czechoslovakia, he forced the Slovaks to split from the Czechs by
threatening to turn them back to the Hungarians. On 14 March 1939,
Slovakia officially split from Czechoslovakia, to enjoy the only
real period of independence in their history. The Premier of the
new state, a Catholic priest and fascist named Jozef Tiso, set up
a model satellite patterned after their German masters, with a
fascist government ruled by one party, and a state militia
modelled after Germany's SA (Sturm Abteilung - Storm Troopers).
Slovakia's army inherited Czech equipment and Czech officers, and
by the time war erupted in Poland in 1939, the fledgling army
assisted Germany, with two divisions occupying territory they
claimed was theirs.

Slovakia, still
mindful of Hungarian take over, were among the first to join what
Tiso called "the crusade against Bolshevism." A Slovak Army Corps
of two divisions joined the German Army Group South in the
earliest days of the invasion of the Soviet Union. In August 1941,
Slovak forces were reorganized, with the two divisions going on to
serve seperately under German operational control in different
regions of the southern front. The year 1943 saw more
reorganizations, and as morale among the Slovaks began to wane,
requests to relocate to the west were refused. After throwing
Slovak units into the line after a breakthrough, without first
getting approval from higher Slovak headquarters, the reliability
of Slovak troops plunged, and in 1944 they were disarmed and
converted into Construction Brigades, serving in Romania, Hungary
and Italy. Two other divisions organizing to defend the
Carpathians in light of Russian advances westward were disbanded
by the Germans after an uprising in August 1944. The uprising was
put down by the Germans, with 3,000 resistance fighters killed and
10,000 more captured. In early 1945, with Tiso still in power
supported by the state militia, all ethnic Germans serving in the
Slovak Army were transferred to the Wehrmacht in exchange for
German troops of Slovak ethnicity.

Soviet Volunteers

Life in the Soviet
Union was notably hard, with various ethnic groups being treated
especially poorly by the Stalin government in Moscow. The Soviet
Union was not an ethnically homogenous peoples and many large
groups such as the Ukrainians actually felt the Soviet government
(dominated by the Russians) to be an occupying power, and that
they were living under occupation by foreigners. For that reason,
many so called "Soviets" actually looked upon the German invaders
in June of 1941 as liberators. Also, many people in disputed
border areas felt more allegiance to Poland, Romania or other
nations rather than to either the Soviets or the Germans. If a
person from Poland is different historically and ethnically from a
person in Spain, the difference is just as great between a Russian
from Moscow and a Ukrainian from Kiev.

The Germans were
unprepared for the number of willing volunteers they would
encounter in the East; some estimates cite a number of 1.5 million
people working for the Germans in some capacity (enough to fill
the ranks of three Army Groups) though other sources say only
800,000. Many of these served in local security or police
formations, but two important categories of volunteers are
relevant to this discussion.

Hilfswilliger
(Auxiliary Volunteers)

The first category
is only of passing interest - the Hilfswilliger (Volunteer Helper,
or Auxiliary Volunteer) also known as "Hiws" were numerically very
important to the day to day operations of the vast German armies
in the Soviet Union, though their direct influence on combat
operations was minimal. Nonetheless, several hundred thousand
Soviet soldiers (and beginning in October 1944, officially, Polish
volunteers as well) came to serve with the Germans. Initially they
were not to be given weapons or uniforms, and they performed
mostly service functions such as driving, cooking, or as medical
orderlies - though by providing these services many Germans were
freed for combat roles. The official sanction bestowed by Hitler
in 1942 to the use of Hiwis also gave rise to better conditions of
pay, uniform and treatment. Hiwis were eventually granted
permission to wear German uniform, and some small numbers of Hiwis
may even have been employed in combat roles - some Divisions began
using entire Hiwi companies in the front line. Mainly, however,
the Hiwis served in impressive numbers throughout the German Army
in the east, but they performed these roles as individuals, not as
formed units. As such, their impact on the fighting in any
tactical sense was negligible.

Ostruppen (Eastern
Troops)

The second, more
important, category, however, is the Osttruppen; armed volunteers
from the former Soviet states that fought alongside the German
Army as formed units. The majority of Ostbataillonen (East
Battalions) were formed from non-Russians such as Balts,
Caucasians, Cossacks, and Ukrainians. In November 1941, six
battalions were organized by Army Group Centre, offically titled
Osttruppen (Eastern Troops). The German High Command acquiesced
and authorized further battalions, on the condition that they not
number more than 200 men per battalion and were employed solely
for security purposes. Eventually the battalions came to number
950 men each, with a cadre of 36 German officers, NCOs and men.

By the summer of
1942, Osttruppen were employed all over Russia and official
regulations attempted to set out orders of dress and rules for the
use of German uniform and standardized insignia. In August 1942,
Hitler lifted most of the restrictions that had previously applied
to the raising of Eastern Troops, primarily in response to an
increase in partisan activity behind German lines in the Soviet
Union. As the number of units grew, an Inspectorate of Eastern
Troops was created in December 1942 (later redesignated the
Inspectorate of Volunteer Troops in January 1944) charged with
supervising the units, with actual tactical command belonging to
the German units to whom the Eastern Troops were attached. Each
Army and Army Group also had a headquarters staff to handle the
Osttruppen, and an officers training academy for Eastern officers
was established in Lithuania. Eventually some 71 battalions came
to serve in the East.

In early 1943, the
Eastern volunteers throughout the German Army (some 48 battalions,
plus independent companies and individual Hiwis - but excluding
specifically the three Estonian battalions) began to be referred
to as the Russkaia Osvoditelnaia Armiia (Russian Liberation Army,
abbreviated ROA). The designation was semantic only, the units
were never formed as an army and remained subordinate to German
formations throughout the German Army.

Attempts by some
Germans to have the ROA units disbanded were thwarted when the
Inspectorate was able to show some 427,000 Eastern volunteers were
on the rolls, enough to man 30 German divisions. These troops were
mostly employed in rear areas performing security and construction
tasks, and the severe mistrust of these Slavic troops led to
widespread transfers to Western Europe or occupied territory in
Eastern Europe. The officers' academy in Lithuania transferred to
France, and some 42 further battalions - refugees of destroyed
German divisions - were transferred to Western Europe. Having
originally enlisted to fight communism, many of these eastern
troops mutinied, or refused to fight when the western Allies
landed in France in June of 1944.

Many of the Eastern
Troops also resented the title ROA, having enlisted to free their
own territories from Russian rule. The Ukrainians even began to
refer to a Ukrainske Vyzvolne Viysko (Ukrainian Liberation Army,
or UVV) though this title was applied to the scattered companies
and battalions of Ukrainian volunteers throughout the German Army,
and like the ROA designation, did not actually refer to a single
formed body but rather collectively to the widely dispersed
individual units.

In November 1944,
the ROA was redesignated VS-KONR (Armed Forces of the Committee
for the Liberation of the Russian Peoples), and remained 50,000
strong, but the older ROA designation stayed in common use until
May 1945. The 1st Infantry (600th German) Division was formed in
December 1944, fought briefly on the Oder in April 1945, then
switched sides to help liberate Prague from German rule. The 2nd
(650th German) and 3rd (599th German) Divisions were never fully
formed.

Cossacks

Other Eastern units
included the 1st Cossack Division, which had its genesis in Aug
1941, when the entire 436th Infantry Regiment of the Red Army
defected to the Germans and were labelled Cossack Battalion 102 by
the Germans, then Eastern Cossack Battalion 600, and finally as
5th Don Cossack Regiment. Many smaller Cossack units were also
utilized by German rear area units for anti-partisan work, and
Hitler personally authorized further recruitment of Cossack
squadrons for security purposes in April 1942. The 5th Don Cossack
Regiment had such good results in its fighting aganst the
partisans that further Cossack units were raised, finally
numbering two brigades (six regiments) and designated 1st Cossack
Division in the spring of 1943. It comprised a German cadre, two
Don, one Siberian, one Kuban and two Terek cavalry regiments, an
artillery regiment, and support troops.

In the autumn of
1943 the Division was ordered to go to Yugoslavia to fight Tito's
partisans, and were employed in Croatia as part of LXIX Corps from
October 1943 until transfer to the Waffen SS in November 1944. The
transfer was on paper only, and the troops retained their Army
uniforms and were never considered members of the Waffen SS
proper. The division was divided into two, with the 1st and 2nd
Cossack Divisions forming the 14th Cossack Cavalry Corps. Not
until the Red Army invaded Yugoslavia did the division have a
chance to fight regular Red Army troops. The division is notable
for a reputation of ruthlessness among the civilian population.

Other Cossack units
included nine independent infantry battalions and 19 cavalry
battalions, which were assigned to German divisions thoughout the
various Army Groups in the east.

Cossack
soldier.

Soldier of
the ROA.

Ostlegionen
(Eastern Legions)

Finally, some 98
Eastern Legion battalions were formed beginning late in 1941 with
the creation of the 444th Turkoman Battalion and the 444th
Caucasian Battalion as part of the German Security Division 444.
The Turkomen was a name used by the Germans to describe all
Asiatic peoples living between the Volga and the Asian steppes,
while Caucasians referred to peoples living on both sides of the
Caucasus mountains in the southern Soviet Union. In December 1941,
the German High Command authorized the raising of several legions,
and in 1942 the disbanded 162nd Infantry Division staff in
occupied Poland trained battalions of Armenian, Azerbaijan,
Georgian, North Caucasian, Volga-Tartar and Turkestan legions.

Eventually, some 98
legions were raised, some 79 served in the Balkans and the Soviet
Union between 1942 and 1945. Official policy was not to group
these legions, but employ them individually, and scattered
throughout the German forces. Twelve of these did transfer to the
west during 1943-44.

Additionally, many
labour, service, depot and security units were formed that were
used in German rear areas. All told, at least some 175,000 men
joined the various Legions.

Local Militias

The Byelorussian
Self-Defence Corps expanded to 55,000 members on paper, though
wide dispersion did not allow for concentration of force greater
than battalion strength in most instances. A Ukrainian Self
Defence Corps numbered some 180,000, with several other militias
in the region also. The Sumy Militia, for example, fought with
distinction against both the Red Army and partisans in the
northeastern sector of Ukraine.

Spain

Germany had
committed troops and equipment to the Spanish Civil War of
1936-1939, and the victor of that war - Francisco Franco - was
sympathetic to the Axis cause. While not in a position to provide
military guarantees to Germany, especially given the economic
condition of Spain and its recovery from the civil war, Franco
nonetheless was able to help Germany and maintain neutrality by
allowing Spanish volunteers to fight alongside Germany. On the
same day that Germany launched Barbarossa, Spain offered help and
on 24 Jun 1941, Hitler approved the commitment of Spanish
volunteers to the fighting in the East. In this way, Spain repaid
Germany for her support by recruiting over 18,000 men for the
250th Infantry Division (dubbed The Blue Division). At first only
4,000 men were required, but the overwhelming response prompted
the raising of an entire division.

Three regiments
were formed (the 262nd from Barcelona recruits, the 263rd from
Valencia and the 269th from Seville), as well as an artillery
regiment, and enough pilots were present to form a squadron of
fighters. Flying Me 109s and later Fw 190s, this Blue Squadron
accounted for 156 Soviet kills during its service on the Russian
Front.

The Spanish
volunteers were mainly inexperienced other ranks with a core of
NCOs and officers who were veterans of the Civil War and of
fighting in Morocco in the 1920s; the men trained briefly in
Germany, swore an oath before Hitler, and then marched to the
front near Smolensk, where they were rerouted to the Leningrad
front. The march to the front lasted from 29 August 1941 and ended
on October 6th, with the division moving some 780 km in 24 march
days (the division rested on the other days), or some 32.5 km a
day average; on 9 September alone the division marched a total of
51 km. They first saw action in October 1941 when the II Battalion
of the 269th Regiment relieved units of the German 126th Infantry
Division. The division stayed on the Volkhov Front until relieved
and transferred to the Leningrad Front in August 1942 (though the
same II/269 remained on the front until September, attached to
20th Motorized Division. The Division remained on the Leningrad
front for the remainder of their time in Russia. Reinforcements
were volunteers until late 1943 when limited conscription may have
provided some small numbers of guripas (the contemporary Spanish
word for soldiers, used as the American GI or German Landser); it
is possible that as many as 45,000 men rotated through the
division, with 4,500 of them being killed.

Allied pressure
compelled Franco to withdraw the division, and this occurred in
October 1943 with the majority of the Division being repatriated.
A Blue Legion remained in the Soviet Union, attached to the German
121st Infantry Division. This small force of over 2100 men
consisted of two infantry battalions and a mixed battalion;
numbering fewer than the 4,500 men desired by the Germans and more
than the 1,500 favoured by the Spanish government, and consisted
of many men from the 27th Mar Battalion which had arrived in
Russia too late to serve with the Blue Division, though many
veterans were also in the ranks. This Legion was also withdrawn in
Mar 1944. Some individuals refused to leave, and small Spanish
subunits were attached to several German formations of both the
Waffen SS and Army.

Sweden

While Sweden was
officially neutral, its neutrality was rather anti-Allied at the
start of Barbarossa, and Swedish iron ore still fuelled the German
war armaments industry, in addition to other business dealings.
Sweden permitted the movement of the German 163rd Infantry
Division through its territory, enroute to Finland from Norway,
fully realizing the division would probably be employed against
the USSR. Some 10 percent of the Finnish Army, moreover, spoke
Swedish, and though officially the Swedish government was not
happy about the situation, one battalion of Swedish nationals
actually served as a volunteer unit of the Finnish Army, opposite
the Soviet base at Hangö.

United Kingdom

Despite recruiting
efforts among tens of thousands of British and Commonwealth
prisoners of war, only a handful of men - some devoted Fascists,
some opportunists, and others near-idiots - volunteered for the
Waffen SS. Never numbering more than a few dozen men, some 20 men
were actually attached to the 11th SS Division in Mar and Apr of
1945, while the division was posted to a quiet section of the
Eastern Front. One or two men of the British Free Corps, as the
English SS unit was known, may have fought and died as individual
combatants in Berlin. However, when the 11th SS Division was
ordered to the capital, the BFC as a unit was deliberately
excluded, and saw no action by the time the war ended. Some
ringleaders were hanged by the British after the war, others
pardoned, with the majority serving prison terms. By way of
comparison, SS records only list five Americans as having served
with the Waffen SS, and despite myths to the contrary, no formed
unit of American SS men was ever created.

Other Reading:

Weale, Adrian.
Hitler's Englishmen.

Notes

Culled from a
variety of sources, special thanks to the knowledgeable and
generous posters at the Battlefront discussion board for their
contributions - direct and indirect - to this introduction to a
broad and complex topic, as well as Fernando J. Carrera who
assisted with the Spanish information.